


(ACT 8) ACT 2: A Wish, A Wish Come True In The Night

by calumTraveler



Series: Stargate: Alternia [17]
Category: Hiveswap, Homestuck, Power Rangers, Stargate Atlantis, Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, 魔進戦隊キラメイジャー | Mashin Sentai Kiramager
Genre: Be Careful What You Wish For, Canon typical levels of violence for Power Rangers and Stargate, Chapter Specific Content Warnings, Don't copy to another site., Explosions, Mental Instability, Mind Control, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, The Homestuck Epilogues: Candy, Time Loop, depictions of anxiety and panic, some stalkerish behavior from the badguys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:14:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 31
Words: 124,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25768747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calumTraveler/pseuds/calumTraveler
Summary: In Crystalia's Legends and Myths, there are tales of four powerful Wish Granting Stones that individually are said to have incredible power... but combined? Their might is something else entirely. But it's just a Myth, after all, and these stones don't really exist... But oh, does everyone wish that they do. And Wish. And WISH. And WISH THEY DO.But the Kiramagers have more important things to focus on other than wishes. Mashin Jouki is firmly within Garuza's grasp, and they need to free the poor Mashin before corruption sets in. Meanwhile: Harry Anderson is debating what Ranger Team he really wants to be on; The newly reformed Overdrive team is trying to catch up to everyone else; And the Go-Busters are recruiting for their Gold and Silver rangers.The bad guys have their hands full with other things, as well. Enter is still on the loose and planning who knows what, and they need to stop him before he interferes with their plans for Universal domination. Beating the Power Rangers may have to wait on the side until Enter can be dealt with. Permanently.All in all, everyone has the feeling it's going to be a very long October.
Series: Stargate: Alternia [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/836265
Comments: 130
Kudos: 4





	1. INTERMISSION: Preluding Bad News

**Author's Note:**

> THINGS TO KNOW:
> 
> CONTENT WARNINGS specific to a given chapter will be posted in the opening notes of every chapter. 
> 
> Expect occasional artwork or musical sequences, nothing near as frequent as the earlier acts. Kiramager chapters will have screenshots from the episodes in question on occasion. More plot important episodes will have more screenshots and the reverse is also true.
> 
> CHAPTER HEADERS:
> 
> MSK: chapters with this header are of the Mashin Sentai Kiramager series order, a.k.a. the main driving bulk of this endeavor.
> 
> SGA: chapters that fall under the Stargate Atlantis TV series production order... these are more of a Hypothetical Sixth season than anything else.
> 
> MINISODE/INTERLUDE/INTERMISSION: If you see a chapter like this, they're generally short scenes or narrow focuses on a subject matter that I felt couldn't fit into the flow of a normal chapter. Think deleted scenes, basically.
> 
> SPARK NOTES ABOUT STARGATE ALTERNIA:
> 
> Mega Crossover, featuring parallel timelines, alternate dimensions, and all sorts of crazy antics.
> 
> Stargate: Pegasus Galaxy is free of the Wraith, who have all been culled, and like Milky Way, are living in general peace. Earth-that-Was has basically been Gallifrey'd into a pocket dimension due to explosive interdimensional shenanigans. But now, it's back. Tau'ri (Humans) who survived Earth's fracturing are scattered all over the place.
> 
> Myst Verse: A video game franchise started by Cyan Worlds. The Cavern of D'ni was relocated off of Earth before it vanished, it resides somewhere on the planet Lopan in the Alternia Galaxy as of present. There's a settlement town also relocated, called Catherine.
> 
> OBDUCTION: A video game by Cyan Worlds. Obduction's main seed swapping gimmick isn't entirely kept, and mostly it's featured alien races are used as background filler for the Alternia Galaxy. Mofang are human like creatures who have incredible Hard Light Technology. The Arai are a hivemind of Insect like creatures. The Villein are gentle giants who's range of speaking is outside of human recognition.
> 
> Homestuck: Somehow, the Candy Timeline Earth-C has been relocated from "canon" to the Alternia Galaxy, and is resting somewhere in a similar orbit to the old planet Alternia itself, which has sense been destroyed due to EPIC SHENANIGANS. People are very annoyed by all the conflicts this is causing.
> 
> Other than that? Homestuck Canon has no baring on current events and really only applies to Earth C itself.
> 
> Power Rangers RPM's Doctor K has a alt-verse Twin named Gina Kae who's working in Atlantis, and building up her own Project Ranger, and runs a class teaching kids how to be Rangers.
> 
> FATE verse: The Main thing to know is that Gilgamesh's Archer Card has possessed a Wraith Commander and is planning on taking over the known universe. Other than that, and I don't expect these to be too relevant, Artoria Pendragon is wandering around somewhere, her son Mordred is a member of SG-1, Shirou Emiya is a chef on Atlantis, and Gray is a co-pilot of a Gundam Mech.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Silver Wing talks with Gordon Freeman over a nagging feeling of impending Doom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Depiction of a low level anxiety attack.  
> Discussion of Death.  
> Discussion on the feeling of Impending Doom.  
> Discussion of the Horrible Life of Gordon Freeman from Black Mesa on wards.

**EARTH DATE: SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2012.**  
  
Silver Wing held a tense fear in her heart as she gazed at the compiled results of weeks of data collection and dimensional mathematics.  
  
The preliminary surface level guess was in. In order to circumvent the barrier around Gilgamesh's conquered Earth, they would need somewhere between six to eleven months of Portals opening to be able to reverse engineer a tunnel.  
  
The data the Lancer and Saber recorded with the Portal over Atlantis only supported this fact.  
  
The Rescuer shuddered. Crazz and Sterling Claws wouldn't be happy about this. Add was already fussy. Touches-The-Sky was already scared beyond belief. Silver Wing herself was frustrated and scared.  
  
This was just the preliminary guess. The assumption that this was the worst case scenario. The potential that things could still go better.  
  
It felt like she had still been given cause to be concerned for her own mortality, though.  
  
Like she'd just been told the air she'd breathed for the last two decades had been poisoned and she had all the symptoms that heralded her own future and imminent demise, and all that she was waiting on now was the final examination results.  
  
Because that's exactly what this was, except on an intergalactic scale. If they rode out those six to eleven months, the rising damage toll could cause billions of people to lose their lives. They had to figure out another route. Another course of action...  
  
But being aware of what the worst case could be wasn't doing Silver Wing any good. She needed more information.  
  
They needed more portals. Maybe larger rifts would give them a better glimpse at how all of this worked. How they could get past that dimensional barrier around Earth.  
  
But in this analogy, if the rot and death Gilgamesh heralded was cancerous, more like a tumor... trying to find a way through, trying to develop a cure- a weapon that could end this- it could just not be enough.  
  
They had to act faster. They had to make their own plans and decisions faster.   
  
Faster. Faster. Faster.  
  
They had to do something sooner.   
  
Silver Wing closed her eyes, and tried to still her breathing. Six seconds in through the nose, four seconds out through the mouth.  
  
Iiiiin, out...  
  
Iiiiin, out...  
  
Iiiiin, out...  
  
Iiiiin, out...  
  
The tension in her chest released a bit, and she opened her eyes.  
  
Panicking wasn't going to get them anywhere.  
  
So what if they were facing a somewhat earlier death than expected? Life was chaotic and uncertain enough that death was always a possibility on even the most peaceful of days. Adding in the war front and all the other potentials...  
  
She was going to help fight this no matter what, wasn't she? Of course she was. She was a Rescuer. And as frightening as the mangled space time threads of Gilgamesh's cancerous influence were... she had to fight it regardless.  
  
She had to survive.  
  
Her people were going to be counting on her to see this through, and not just her people, her fellow Rescuers, but the Atlantians, the Tau'ri and Alternians and Fae and Jaffa who all worked there. Lived there.  
  
As much as the fear made her want to curl up into a ball, leave, and never look back... Her friends among them were counting on her. Her family was counting on her.  
  
Her co-workers and so many people she'd never met...  
  
They all were counting on her to see this through.  
  
The weight alone was a heavy burden, scarring her even further.   
  
Burdens, though... Burdens were not an unfamiliar weight among those faced with turmoil. Silver Wing had seen her fair share of burdens over the years.   
  
She needed to talk to Freeman.  
  


* * *

  
[How do you deal with it?]  
  
"Deal with what?"  
  
[Knowing that you might one day die?]  
  
"I still have nightmares about it, you know?" Gordon Freeman mused as he wiped down a chalk board in his personal lab. "Black Mesa. Xen. City 17. The Citadel. The Mines. White Forest. The Borealis. The Shit with Alex. All the what ifs of what could have gone wrong if I'd died, if I'd screwed it up. Some days, I still feel like a dead man walking even with Miyu reminding me how I'm still alive."  
  
Silver Wing nodded. [Understandable.]  
  
"Yeah. But you know what trips me up the most?" Gordon glanced at the Rescuer. "How similar your people are to the Vortigaunts- like, you guys are physiologically pretty different. The Vorts had three arms, different finger counts, no wings, way too many eyes... But there's still..." He shook his head. "The Irrational part of my mind keeps drawing conclusions about how your legs are almost identical. How your skin looks the same even though I know damn well they've got different textures and material tollerances. Some days I see one of you Rescuers walking down the hallways and my brain just finds itself back in Black Mesa with a Vort hurling lightning at me."  
  
[I think I've startled you more than once in that way,] Silver Wing said. [I know it's just the trauma of the incident, but at the same time I feel I need to apologize for it.]  
  
"Thanks, that helps, a little. Not a lot, but... Thanks." Gordon took a breath, and exhaled, then sat down at his desk, facing Silver Wing directly. "Some days, I wonder if he only thing that stops me from breaking down is the whole mental discipline I had to put in place during the Resistance. The first Vort I ran into that wasn't shackled I actually shot to death because it startled me. Which. Yeah. I got called out for later. I didn't realize yet that they were all, like, free. That they'd been controlled into being mindless enemies attacking me. I was still warry about 'em, y'know? But... they were warry of me, too. Had this, like-" he motioned at his head. "Mind Link to every other instance of them in my time line. I spoke to one, once. Bastard was seeing me in multiple places at once. Black Mesa, Xen, Earth. All at the same damned time. I was murdering some of his view points even as I was sitting there having a casual chat with him."  
  
[That sounds... uncomfortable for both of you,] Silver Wing said.   
  
"Tell me about it, it was downright creepy," Gordon grimaced. "Still, they were able to look past it and pull me out of that Bastard's prison dimension. Made me their 'employee' instead of his, I guess. I still don't get it. Why they thought I was anything special. Why ANY of them thought I was anything special. I'm just me, you know?"  
  
Silver Wing nodded.  
  
"I guess the only thing special about me was that I survived the impossible," Gordon glanced at the window, out at the whirling texture of a Hyperspace tunnel moving past as Atlantis traveled to its new home. The motion reminded him uncomfortably of that first extraction. The Illusion of Free Choice and a Promised Fight he couldn't hope to win.   
  
Still, he gazed out the window at it.  
  
"Way I figure it, I should have died of radiation poisoning years ago. Maybe a tumor to the brain," Gordon said, not tearing his eyes away from the motion of space-time outside the City's Shields. "I didn't have a helmet for ANY of that. I trudged through toxic sludge. I heard my geiger counter go off more times than I could count. I got zapped, and exposed to who knows how many foreign particles inside the Citadel. I should've been riddled with ticking time bombs, but..." He glanced at Silver Wing. "Here I am. Even my medical exams after coming to this dimension had me shockingly healthy. And even now we've got miracle tech that can heal up fatal wounds like THAT if given proper medical attention. And that's not even TOUCHING on the actual Magic."  
  
[Magic is an incredible thing, that's for sure,] Silver Wing chuckled, humorlessly.  
  
"If I'm being honest, I'm scared for the day I'll finally die," Gordon said. "I don't want to die. But at the same time, I know I'm not immortal. Something'll kill me eventually. Back then I thought it'd be Black Mesa. Then Xen. Then the Combine. But now? My life's so varried and wide open that I can't predict what it'll be. I can worry about all the shit I've been exposed to, but hell, it might be the thing I don't see coming that actually kills me."   
  
[I see.] Silver Wing considered that.  
  
"So... To answer your question..." Gordon took another deep breath. "How do I deal with it? I don't. I just try to live each day as if it'll be my last. You never know what crazy shit Life's waiting to throw at you around the next corner of that old steel corridor."  
  
[I think I get it, Gordon,] Silver Wing said, bowing. [Thank you for your time.]  
  
"Ah, hell, I worry about this stuff enough it's not a problem to philosophize about it to someone else worried about it," Gordon answered, scratching at the back of his head. "Do you mind if I ask what brought this on?"  
  
Silver Wing took a deep breath of her own.   
  
[Call it a premonition of my own doom, but I'm worried I might not see this through to the end.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Silver Wing's emotions here was a vent on the emotions I felt earlier this year when I had a bit of a health scare. Anxiety and panic attacks are... a bit of a bitch, really. It took several weeks of tests before things got settled out and the panic has been thoroughly defeated in this one instance of personal health concerns. It's a powerful section to open on, I'll admit, but it fits the themeology of this Act fairly well.
> 
> As I said at the end of Act 8 Act 1, the last act was about Beginnings... this act is about Panic, and dealing with that panic and associated anxiety. It's an emotional vent on some level, I suppose. 
> 
> Panic is definitely the theme of this act, and as before, I'll as thoroughly as possible be marking chapters at the beginning of each chapter with CONTENT WARNINGS. It's what I'd like to see from stories and tv shows more, even if I'm personally able to get by without them, so I'm trying to provide that for those who need them more than I do.  
> \---  
> The Next Chapter is: SGA:06X09: The Metal World
> 
> Long time readers may have a vague impression of what the focus of that chapter will be. But, well. We'll have to hold off and see about what happens come next Friday. Until I'm a bit more comfortable with how the hell this story is progressing I'll be holding it back to once a week updates again, for the most part. Minisodes or Intermissions may be posted before/after larger chapters.


	2. SGA:06X09: The Metal World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we open up this act with Enter Breaking and Entering; a vault being raided; and other shenanigans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> A Previously On Recap of past story events.  
> A Melting Robot.  
> Breaking, Entering, and Theft of Ancient Artifacts.  
> A poor punching bag gets knocked off its chain.  
> A body double/imposter of a missing girl.

_PREVIOUSLY ON STARGATE..._   
_\---_   
_Alternia Liberation Team 7, or ALT-7 for short, had encountered a mission gone wrong. Everyone on the team except for a poor Olive Blood Boy had been captured by clowns. That poor boy, named OLIVER OSCPIN, had been the only real survivor of an ambush and sneak attack and had escaped back to Alternia._   
  
_And so it was when ALT-7's IDC came in on that fine, November/May morning that the technician on duty, Zebede Tongva, respectfully and skeptically radioed back for an additional confirmation of identity before he could open the Gate for travel.  
_   
_...No radio transmission came through in return, and nothing stepped through the gate to crash against the shield. And so it was that you and yours were sent through to the planet in question, which had ended up being NOT AT ALL the same one the team had originally been sent to and captured on and then escaped from._   
_  
Your name? Joey Claire. Your team? Xefros, Tyzias, and Mierfa, with Oliver as a tag along, to see if any specific hints were left behind at the gate. Your mission? Figure out what the hell happened to Sumara Rhozee and her team.  
_   
_You dial through to a planet the database called PC0-09Z, emerging into a forest of METAL TREES._   
_\---_   
_And then you clear the forest of metal trees and find a rather large temple that once was made out of stone, but clearly had been metalized in the same process that had affected the trees. You assume this, at any rate, because of the small crater in front of it with some METALIZED STATUES of adult sized ALTERNIAN RESEARCHERS surrounding it, shielding themselves as if trying to avoid looking at an explosion._

_"That was not a pleasant way to go," Mierfa grimly remarks._   
_\---_   
_And so you head into the temple's main entrance. Using some Arai beetles and their wings as light, you're able to see clear up the ceilings to see what's carved and painted on the walls._

_"Giant Lions and Giant Bats, oh my," Tyzias remarks._

_"Lots of other giant creatures too," Oliver says, glancing at some depictions of other, giant sized creatures. Like giant rabbits, and chickens, and-_

_"Is that a freaking Giant Robot?" You ask as you enter a large circular room at the end of the entrance hallway. There, situated in the center of it, is a massive depiction of a giant robot with two planets hovering over each shoulder. A large hole in the ceiling casts a large shadow of sunlight down upon it from above, causing its metallic surface to glint and gleam._   
_Critical details seem to have been broken loose over time- like the face design and some kind of ornaments on the chest and shoulders- and did so some time before whatever process caused this entire planet to turn into metal, but the overall shape is definitely there. Boxy in places, streamlined shapes in others. It's a giant robot in statue form, and its sword..._

_Well, its sword is clearly present, even if its blade is broken into pieces and resting on the floor, making the rest of it held firmly in the robot's hand look something like a microphone stand._

_"Something something, history repeating itself," Tyzias says._

_There seems to be a lot of fragments lying on the floor around the statue on any side of it. You wonder what these could have been? The intact parts seem to have been shaped into band like arcs, with some minor carvings depicting smaller, varied creatures on it, but... there's not enough detail left now to tell what it was._   
_"What is this place?" You ask._

_"No idea," Tyzias says, checking her scanner. "But I'm picking up an increased level of the first type of dimensional rift signatures here, same for the second type, but it's not- Wait, it's spiking!"_

_You see a brief surge of light from one of the doors in the room. UH OH. You grab your radio, and warn, "Everyone brace yourselves!"_

_...But beyond a brief sensation of static flaring over your eyes and your ears ringing briefly from no discernible cause, nothing seems to happen._   
_\---_   
_You see... one, two... FOUR DOORS, counting the one you entered the room with. There are three others, one directly opposite, and two off to the sides, forming an X shape of sorts._   
_Oliver and Tyzias follow you into the room you're labeling as "1" and you look around. You see..._

_On the left side of the room: there's a lot of miniature statuettes in here, depicting various monsters and warriors and even some robots. There are some odd carved decorations on the wall depicting some heroes taking small, rectangular shaped objects and inserting them into some of the figures- and then they grow into full size._

_You check one of the statuettes, but find it firmly stuck to the shelf due to whatever process turned it all into metal to begin with._

_On the right side of the room: there's a large relief of a-_

_"What the hell??" you ask, incredulously. "Why did someone go to the trouble of making a giant record player?"_

_It seems like the depiction here is of some giant ass record player that some tiny figures are standing on. Is it capturing some important moment of history? You're not sure. If it is, it's depicting a moment where a group of heroes seem to be trying to destroy something with the Record Player?_

_Attached in place of the needle is a very large diamond shaped object. It... it reminds you a little of crystals from the Bracelet- and you place your hand over your heart to feel the pieces of Administrator pulse at the thought of it. Whatever it was that these heroes- maybe the wall of statuettes is of these heroes?- were trying to do, it ends up with that giant crystal shattering._

_You turn to face the far side of the room, and see a depiction of a planet shattering into pieces, each marked with a tiny diamond shape._   
_\---_   
_The "2" room seems to be centered around a giant orrery type recreation of a solar system. One giant star in the center, with two orbiting planets. One of them seems to have two moons, and the other only has one- but it ALSO has a ring around it like Saturn does._

_There seems to be a lot of breaks and cuts along the walls to depict... something, but whatever turned the stone to metal failed to conserve the paint, in this case._

_You take a closer look at the planet with the rings and... is is it just you or does it have carvings that look like earth's continents? Sort of, at any rate. The shapes aren't exact matches. Like, maybe it could be Earth if the seas rose, but..._   
_\---_   
_And then you enter the third room and find something you never expected to see in your entire life._

_"Is that a freaking Quantum Mirror?" Tyzias asks._

_"Oh, good, I'm not imagining it, then," you say._

_And indeed, it very much is. The only thing in this entire temple that isn't made out of metal is a shiny, silver surface reflecting a non-metalic version of the temple back at you._

_The glass, though, is very obviously CRACKED, and through those cracks emerges some VERY WARM GLOWING LIGHT._   
_\---_

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 15TH, 2012.**  
  
In another certain alternate galaxy to the Pegasus Galaxy, on a certain metal-tree forested world known as PC0-09Z... Enter meandered through the trees, humming a certain Christmas Song to himself as he examined not the trees, but his laptop.  
  
"Oh La La, to be a wanted man," Enter mused. "Wanted by The Alternians in that fake identity and the guise of the man my spirit possesses..." A tap to dismiss those wanted posters, revealing others. "Wanted by my own Majeste for a perceived betrayal... I truly feel the love," Enter dismissed that page of posters as well, revealing a radar tracking screen.  
  
He smirked, glancing upwards into the distance.  
  
"But in the end, I know exactly what's needed."  
  
There, before him, was a metalized temple residing within the metalized forest. It had once been made of stone, but now was pure metal. An incongruity of incongruities, but only a select few people had ever known about this world or the fact that it had once housed a Quantum Mirror...  
  
A Quantum Mirror now lost to time itself due to the various incidents that lead to its inevitable destruction.  
  
Enter morphed into his combat suit and began to sing to his previously hummed song as he entered the temple, "Dashing through the snow... On a one horse open sleigh..."

* * *

[ **o < \--- STARGATE: ATLANTIS --- >o** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0K2bRdtGlg)

* * *

The city of Atlantis sat beneath the stars of a new, unnamed world, whose nighttime sky was also filled with the brilliant pink blue and green aura of an aurora, shimmering through the air.  
  
A real and true annoyance that they'd landed on the wrong side of the planet- given that they'd been aiming to synch up the day-night schedules with other worlds.  
  
But, for the time being, it was an acceptable one. This planet was just a temporary hold over, after all. They'd be packing up and leaving again by the end of the month.  
  
John Sheppard stood out on the balcony outside of the Ctiy's Control Room along with Argo Lalonde and Jade Jackson, the three of them gazing upwards at the stars.  
  
As they stood there, gazing upwards, the doors slid open, and Keiko Ayano stepped out, sighing.  
  
"Well," Keiko said, joining the trio on the balcony. "The Mystics just finished the first fight we've had in weeks against one of Gilgamesh's goons."  
  
"Was wondering when they'd surface again," Argo grimaced.  
  
"Looks like Rodney and Roxy's plan didn't really stop them for too long," John agreed.   
  
"What I'm wondering," Jade started, "is why it took any of Gilgamesh's generals this long to try anything. Garuza doesn't seem the type to wait unless he had a reason. And we KNOW he's been fairly independent compared to the other forces."  
  
"Could be they stretched themselves thin with that whole gambit they tried," John offered.   
  
"Cassie thinks it was a test run to see if we were still on the ball," Keiko supplied. "We'll probably be seeing an uptick in monster attacks in the next few days if that was the case."  
  
“Well, that’s just great,” Argo sighed. “So much for the mini vacation we were having.”  
  
“Had to end eventually,” Jade said, putting an arm around the cat-crow’s shoulders.   
  
“I know,” Argo said. “Still sucks.”  
  
“Always does,” John agreed.  
  


* * *

  
"Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells..." Enter stopped singing as he gazed upon the ruined statue of a once mighty warrior. "Tre Bein, you were quite marvelous, weren't you?" He tsked, "Such a shame that you are now quite so dilapidated."  
  
He wandered around the statue's base, running a scanner connected to his laptop, and then found a spot that looked like it could have been a trapdoor in its side, were the temple still made of stone.  
  
"The metal, though, may have preserved more than the Alternians ever knew," Enter said, withdrawing his laptop, and a small flick wheel cigarette lighter. He placed a small pad onto the lighter, and then withdrew a card. "Metavirus- To Melt- Install."  
  
A slash of the card through the laptop's reader, and a flash of light and a cry of _**"MEL-TER-DROID. MEL-TER-DROID"**_ later, a [sprayer model robot with a blow torch for a right arm stood before him](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/powerrangers/images/7/7e/TSGB-Sprayloid.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20190306001119).

"Let's Melt some Metal!" The Robot cried out.  
  
"Cut open this hatch," Enter declared as he absently tapped a dismissal for the Megazord summoning to this location. "I have need of what lies in the hidden vault below."  
  
"Yessir!" The Robot answered, and began igniting its blow torch arm to cut through the place in the statue's base.  
  


* * *

  
  
An alarm sensor beeped within the lab of Doctor Callie Ohphee, who looked up, bleary eyed from her work pouring over the prototype weapon used against Enter back in the Frog Temple on the Jurassic World, and gave a brief flap of her wings- sending her wheeled office chair skittering across the lab's floor until she came to rest at her Laptop.  
  
A few taps later, and she swore- "Fucking hell!"   
  
Wide awake, Callie got to her feet and took her laptop with her with a captchalogue before tapping her radio- "This is Doctor Ohphee, I need AR-1 and any currently in-city and on-duty Ranger Team to meet me in the Book Room NOW. This is a Code Red Regarding Codename: Metalized Mirrors. We have a break in."  
  


* * *

  
"Dial PC0-09Z NOW!" Callie's order echoed through the hall.  
  
Okurii Leijon swore as AR-1 plus Callie and the trio of Go-Buster Rangers barged into the Beltus' Gate room. Her reason? Because the Lime Blooded doctor had immediately demanded a dial out to a certain world using a numerical sequence name that nobody was supposed to ever utter unless circumstances absolutely dictated it.  
  
"Ma'am?" Zebede looked to Okurii, and she nodded.  
  
"I'm giving permission, release the limiter on that address."  
  
A moment later, the Beltus' Stargate began dialing, and within a few precious seconds, and a KAWOOSH, those eight people stepped through the Stargate, vanishing from sight a moment later.  
  
Okurii took an unsteady breath, waiting the seconds, then radioed, "Callie, what the fuck is going on?"  
  
 _"Intruder alert,"_ Callie answered. _"The bastard who broke into the Frog Temple Lab just had a robot cut into a hidden passage inside the Temple."_  
  
Okurii swore under her breath, then said, rather, begged, "Callie, please tell me that the fucking Ancient Relic of a Temple that showed signs of being connected to a wider part of the multiverse didn't house one of those damned Tunnels in addition to a Quantum Mirror?"  
  


* * *

  
"If I knew for certain, I would," Callie answered as they all hiked it at double speed through a once well worn path towards the Metal Temple, which would have been suitably overgrown after years of neglect if everything organic weren't made out of metal. "But because I don't, I can't."  
  
 _"Alright,"_ Okurii said, no doubt grimacing by the tone of her voice. _"But I am radioing back in ten minutes. We're keeping in constant contact. I need to know what's going on."_  
  
"Understood," Callie nodded.  
  
"So... Speaking of needing to know," Youko began, "What exactly is this place?"  
  
"This planet is classified to the point we removed its official designation from every official gate database repository. It doesn't have a name, and we made sure that only a few select non-networked computers or data drives were allowed to contain the address," Rodney Mckay explained. "Back during the days of the Alternian Resistance against the Empire, though, it was known as PC0-09Z, and ALT-1 and ALT-2 wound up encountering a BROKEN Quantum Mirror here. So Broken that it was functioning, but leaking dimensional shifts out into the world around it."  
  
"All these trees used to be alive and not metal," Callie took it from there. "All that the official reports the SGC ever got said about this planet was that it was where we found another Quantum Mirror. We kept the temple's existence quiet for security reasons. We didn't want people coming here trying to find some way to abuse what was here as a means of breaking into another reality given how unstable the dimensional barriers here became."  
  
"This Mirror wouldn't have happened to be the one that got used by Elwurd's crew to crack open the Rift between Galaxies, would it?" Hiromu asked.  
  
"It was, actually," Teyla Emmagan answered. "Though, I believe the Mirror itself had been repaired before then?"  
  
"It was repaired and moved off world by Keiko and her friends," Rodney answered. "We did manage to use it successfully for a time before it got stolen and destroyed, though."  
  
"So this could be apocalyptic-ally bad," Ryujii summarized.  
  
"That's the understatement of the century," Rodney said. "What I want to know is how the hell Blaze found the Gate address!"  
  
"He had a computer virus robot hiding in our systems," John suggested an answer. "Who knows how long it was there before we noticed. There's no telling what data it could have accessed if someone temporarily connected to one of the Isolated Drives we had on Atlantis."  
  
"Doesn't sit right with me," Rodney shook his head. "But, that doesn't matter in the end, though, does it?"  
  
"Can I blow this guy's head off this time?" Ronon Dex asked, charging his gun.  
  
"Only if he's not surrounded by anything that might explode," John said at the same time Rodney replied: "No! He's possessing an innocent man!"  
  
"Fair enough," Ronon grunted.  
  


* * *

  
  
Enter whistled as he descended a stairwell into a large room depicting what at first glance could be misconstrued as a carved Gate-Address repository such as what had been on Abydos, but... this was much larger, much grander... Much more elaborate and depicting so much more than just simple Gate Addresses. Dimensional Coordinates, and lists of friendly worlds...  
  
It was a well and true repository, telling the storied history of a massive, inter-dimensional spanning alliance.  
  
"Impressive," Enter said, "very very impressive..." he glanced around the room, and spotted another tunnel further along the way. "But not what I'm after."   
  
He headed for the entrance- then paused. "Ah, Melting Droid. Please be a kind servant and stop anyone who enters from progressing beyond this point."  
  
"But aren't we alone?" The robot asked, half way into entering the room behind Enter.  
  
"Not for long, I'm sure," Enter said. "I'm quite certain I tripped a motion sensor entering this temple."  
  


* * *

  
  
Keiko chewed idly on the tip of her thumb-claw- transformed specifically for the act so she didn't break anything that couldn't magically regenerate afterwards- as she gazed down at the Stargate of the Atlantis Gate Room from her window in the Admin's Office.  
  
"Remind me why nobody examined this temple for any hidden entrances again," Argo remarked, joining her at the window. "It's a temple made by a bunch of people aware of beings who could A, Travel between Dimensions with or without a Quantum Mirror, and B, built a Quantum Mirror. Why didn't we investigate?"  
  
"We were busy with god knows how many wars for almost a decade," Keiko answered, glancing over at Argo. "Then once we were done with the wars, nobody wanted to go poking a hornets nest like that... Honestly, I forgot all about that place until just now."  
  
"Can't argue with that," Argo frowned. "But... Damn it. Of course something would have to come back and bite us in the ass now of all times."  
  
"Agreed," Keiko grimaced.   
  


* * *

  
  
AR-1, The Busters, and Callie arrived at the temple of metal, finding its outskirts as empty as could be expected.  
  
"Alright, that melting robot's probably standing guard inside somewhere," Callie said. "Rangers, I want you to distract it while AR-1 and I head deeper inside."  
  
"Roger that," Hiromu nodded. Then, the Jaffa looked to his Alternian and Fae teammates, and together they took their formation and readied their wrist mounted morphers.   
  
In synch, they spun the center dials, and then pressed the trigger buttons.  
  
 ** __"It's Morphing Time!"__** The devices cried out as green circles of energy encircled the three Rangers, and placed suits upon their bodies.  
  
They raised their Morphers up to their faces as visors popped out of the sides, and helmets formed around their faces, sans visors.  
  
"Set Visors!" They called out, and the visors on the Morphers transformed, completing the helmets.  
  
"I wish we had that tech when I was younger," Rodney griped as the Go-Busters took the lead into entering the temple.   
  
Teyla gave him a sympathetic smile as they headed into the temple after the Rangers.  
  


* * *

  
  
Enter entered the next chamber, and found exactly what he was hoping for- a room full of vast riches and artifacts stored away.  
  
"Ooh La La, what a find!" He chuckled, approaching a shelf with what appeared to be the RPM Morphers on them. "That's a paradox that shouldn't exist, isn't it?" He chuckled, and gazed around the shelf. "Now where would I happen to find...?"  
  
He spotted exactly what he was looking for- a set of large, variously colored crystals resting on the shelf. Two were of specific colors, lime green and a slightly purplish deep blue, while a third of was of a light blue, almost crystal clear color. And all of them were generally of the same size and cut, excluding one that was much larger- a deep blue Aqua Stone with white marbling across its surface.  
  
All of those gemstones were shaped exactly in the same way as the Kiramei Stones took in their idle, sleeping form.   
  
"Now... shall I be greedy and take them all, hm...?" Enter gazed at the various stones, then scoffed. "Of course I will!" He snatched the lot of them off of the shelf, starting with ones that we hadn't gotten a good look at, and turned to examine the rest of the room as he de-materialized all of those Kiramei Stones into his own personal pocket dimension inventory.  
  
"Now, what else is here for me to take for my own?" Enter asked, summoning a large duffel bag into his hands.

* * *

The Burning Torch themed Robot hummed quietly to itself, rocking back and forth on its feet before it heard a sudden exclamation of _"Transport!"_ and it froze.  
  
"Ah... Someone's come," The Robot turned to face the stairs and-  
  
 _ **BWAM BWAM BWAM!!**_  
  
Immediately took three shots to the chest, sending it flying backwards.

The Go-Busters dove into the room a moment later, their blasters in hand.  
  
Needless to say, their rampaging charge forwards kept the Torch themed robot distracted from AR-1 breezing through the room a minute later.  
  
"This room is still partially stone!" Callie observed as they ran through. "That means the dimensional metalification effect either retreated from here, or it never made it down this far for some reason!"  
  
"We'll worry about that later," John said. "For now let's get this guy before he does something worse!"  
  
And so they ran down the hallway, descending deeper into the complex and watching as the metal finally all faded away, back to stone.  
  
Finally, they arrived in the final chamber to find Enter, still suited up in his battle form, stuffing artifacts into a large, oversized bag he'd materialized from nowhere.  
  
"Blaze!" Rodney shouted, as AR-1 raised their weapons at him.  
  
"Oh, drat," Enter shook his head. "I seem to have been caught red handed in my petty thievery, haven't I?"   
  
"Drop the bag, Blaze," John ordered. "Gently. Then hands in the air."  
  
"Fine," Enter gently dropped the bag to the ground- it rattled on impact regardless. He raised his hands... "Adieu." And waved as he began to teleport out.  
  
AR-1's Guns fired- but it was too late- the empty shelf and wall behind Enter absorbed the bullets and the energy blast from Ronon's gun instead of the man himself.  
  
"Shit," Callie swore, entering the room as well.  
  
"Secure the bag and whatever the hell's in it," John ordered. "Bastard came in here for a reason. Let's hope he left without it."  
  


* * *

  
 ** __"It's Time for Buster!"__ **the trio of blasters called out as they powered up for their special attack...  
  
"Oh... I really didn't think this through, did I?" The blow torch bot sans his entire right arm- which had vanished in mysterious circumstances during the battle- remarked as the Go-Busters lined up their shots, and--  
  
 _ **BWAM!**_

The robot mysteriously vanished just the same as his arm had- in a burst of flames and exploding data debris.  
  
"Enemy Eliminated," Hiromu reported into his morpher's radio.   
  


* * *

  
Enter rematerialized near the Stargate on that world, and he reached out, swiping a metalized bug off of the side of a tree with a chuckle as he meandered towards the Stargate and punched in a random address.   
  
**_WAA WAA! KAWOOOSH!_**  
  
"Time to cause some havoc," Enter said, grabbing a small marker device, hurtling it through the Stargate, and then opening his laptop and sending the signal to the awaiting Megazord to begin its teleportation. "And cover my own Escape." He chuckled, as if enjoying some private joke, and then teleported away, his random metal bug in hand.  
  


* * *

  
 **EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 16TH, 2012.**  
  
"What the hell kind of vault were we even sitting on?" Keiko asked as she gazed at the contents of Enter's Bag, spread out over several desks in Gina Kae's private office.  
  
"Given the visual duplicates of my own other-self's RPM Morphers?" Gina asked, motioning at the set of RPM-like morphers, "I'm willing to bet it was a hybrid of two things." She took a breath. "First off, said Morphers? Completely different Code Base compared to my Corinth Twin's tech. I'd say that despite them looking the same, generating the same suits, and functioning with very similar power sets, they're from very different tech bases. One major difference? For example, these Morphers are each equipped with Holographic Projectors that the RPM Morphers did not contain."  
  
"Hologram Projectors?" Keiko asked, gazing at the Morphers. "That's... a strange thing to add."  
  
"While I can't think of any use for them, I'd be willing to bet there's some other version of these powers out in the Multiverse that makes use of the tech. Perhaps a situation with Sentient Zords like the Mashin could use them to communicate with their rangers? But I'd be speculating far too much at that point," Gina shook her head. "So, part one of the Vault's usage is pretty clear to me that it was used by whatever dimension crossing civilization built that temple in the first place to store artifacts they gathered in their travels- possibly a lot of them were originally sourced from their home dimension to begin with."  
  
"Okay," Keiko nodded. "That makes sense. "What's the other part?"  
  
"Assuming that most of everything that Blaze tried taking is from the Vault's original usage pre-abandonment... That now leaves us with certain Anomalous pieces of tech." Gina moved over to another table, and held up a broken looking Wind Morpher. "This is June's old Morpher. Down to the Damage it sustained. The only differences between this one from the Vault, and the one I've got in my own private safe? Age. This one's easily a thousand years older."   
  
"So Time Travel," Keiko took in a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. "Fuck."  
  
"Time Travel," Gina nodded. "Given that from what I've been told that Temple had to have been bronzed sometime relatively recently compared to the long spanning history of the Alternia Galaxy," Gina paused, "Otherwise the broken Quantum Mirror's bronzing effects would have been much more widely spread than it was when initially discovered. I'm willing to bet that the vault itself was last used by someone to place items of importance within it around the time of Crystalia's Fall. Probably shortly just after it."  
  
"Ignoring for a moment just HOW you can predict that so specifically... That would help explain away just How fragments of Esprez's Stone wound up on Old Athos, to some degree," Keiko shook her head. "Time Travel. Of course it's time travel. Jouki's stone being in Haven was explained away easily enough, but now Esprez, and this?"  
  
"We have access to Time Ships, and Solar Flares," Gina said, "it wouldn't be hard to calculate multiple ways of fulfilling the newly discovered loop requirements." She paused. "Let's touch on how I can guess when the Vault was last used." She placed June's old morpher back down on the table, and grabbed an Ancient Scanning tablet.  
  
"And what's that?" Keiko asked as Gina tapped at the screen, then turned the tablet around so she could see the screen. "...Kiramei Stone Readings?"  
  
"Specifically, residual environmental energy bleed through residue matching the slumbering Kiramei Stones that we found on one of the shelves that we can't explain away," Gina answered. "The reason for that is that we don't have those stones anywhere in Blaze's bag, or in the vault itself; meaning he must have spirited them away with him when he teleported out and this bag full of stolen loot was meant to distract us from what he was really stealing."  
  
"How many?" Keiko asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach.  
  
"From the readings? I'd guess at least four stones, maybe more, maybe less," Gina answered, and then swallowed her own unease. "Plus there's no telling what else Blaze may have have taken with him that wasn't stored in this bag."

* * *

"Damn it!"   
  
Jade Jackson winced as she watched Harley Jade Sheppard punch at a punching bag in the Atlantis Gym.   
  
"Stupid- Fucking- God-Damned-!" Harley kicked at the punching bag, sending it swaying.  
  
Jade looked down at the seat next to her, where Mahha and Esprez's stones were sitting there, watching the Green Kiramager burn off stress.  
  
"More Stones," Mahha said quietly. "I can't believe that there's possibly more of us that survived Crystalia's Fall out there somewhere."  
  
"It could be anyone," Esprez said quietly. "Dus or Maze... Maybe even Maryelle?"  
  
"HIIIIRRARGH!" And then Harley swung a green power enhanced fist into the punching bag, causing it to break loose of the swinging chain holding it up in the air.  
  
The bag went sailing across the empty gym before slamming into a wall.  
  
Jade stood, and went over to check on Harley as she panted for breath.  
  
"Hey, you okay?" She asked.  
  
"No," Harley huffed, then, looking up, she then hugged Jade, and squeezed tight. "Those Kiramei Stones might be used against us. It's not fair. First Jouki. Now four or more more of them? It's not fair we're going to have to fight them." A deep breath followed, and Jade knew Harley was trying to keep calm. "And... And we haven't even seen Jouki or Garuza once since we last fought him. Everything's been too quiet and- it's not right. It feels like we're playing a waiting game now... Who are we going to fight first? Jouki and Garuza, or one of these new Kiramei Stones?"  
  
Jade didn't have any answer to that question.  
  


* * *

"Pouring over the history books again, Atsuya?" Fiya asked, gemstone form hovering over his partners shoulder as he sat, hunched over the old Athosian History tome for what was probably the tenth time this month.  
  
"Yeah," Atsuya answered quietly. "I'm trying to see if there's any kind of hints we might have left ourselves."  
  
"...Pardon?" Fiya asked, tilting to the side. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
"It's pretty obvious that we're probably going to wind up fighting our time's Garuza on Crystalia in the past at some point, isn't it?" Atsuya asked, looking up from the book to gaze at his partner. "At the very least we need to grab Esprez's fragments so they can make their way to Athos. There's no way for those fragments to make it to a whole other galaxy otherwise."  
  
"I suppose that's true," Fiya said. "But what makes you think our times Garuza'll be behind it?"  
  
"Just a hunch," Atsuya said, frowning. "But how did Garuza hook up with Gilgamesh's army? How did he survive all these years? My imagination can't come up with any other explanation other than that our Garuza made the introductions in the past."  
  
"That's a pretty large leap," Fiya said. "But I can sorta see how that'd work."  
  
"And then there's this vault thing now," Atsuya continued. "Four more Kiramei stones? Plus how so few of the Crystalians made it into the modern era... We're all assuming they got killed, but what if we did what the Alternian Team did when they traveled back in time and pulled survivors to the future who were listed as dying in the past?"  
  
"Faking their deaths..." Fiya mused. "I can see that too. But... Do you really think we'd leave a message to ourselves if that were the case? I mean, I'm not doubting that we might have done that, but... In a History book?"  
  
"The key to unlocking that vault in the Frog Temple was in this book," Atsuya said, looking down at the pages of text before him. "The weapon fragments that everyone's fixating over gave a design idea that Mister Lalonde was able to manifest into something functioning... It worked against that Blaze Guy enough to prove he's a spirit-in-a-card possessing a person like in the myth."  
  
"That's really kind of a coincidence, though, isn't it?" Fiya asked.  
  
"I'd think it might be if it weren't for the tunnel in the island," Atsuya said. "Even if time travel isn't completely involved with those events in the past-" Well, the other time line version of Harley's mother was as far as he was willing to stretch that 'isn't completely involved'- "what happened back then is pretty firmly involved in what's going on now."  
  
"Ah, yeah, I suppose that's true too," Fiya agreed.   
  
"So, even if it's not a message we left ourselves," Atsuya concluded, "I've got to look just in case there is something else in here that will help us." He adjusted his glasses. "Don't you think that's worth the effort, at least?"  
  
"I can't really argue," Fiya said, "but please don't burn yourself out again, alright?"  
  
"I won't," Atsuya nodded. "Nepeta's coming by in a bit to pick me up for another date later."  
  
"Heh," Fiya sparkled. "I suppose there's that at least."  
  


* * *

  
  
"Iyo! Has anyone seen Iyo!?" The Director on Set cried out, frustrated, stomping around even as Equius sighed and sat down in his named chair.  
  
"We'll be hours behind schedule if she doesn't turn up soon," Equius said of his missing co-star.   
  
"Ah... but that might be our fault too..." Jetta said, quietly, while hiding inside Equius' bag. "I gave her the wrong impression and then you finally corrected it after the last fight with Garuza... now she's not shown up?"  
  
"We were able to work together the last week just fine until now," Equius said, "so I doubt it's because of that. Even so... something feels off. I just can't place what."  
  
"Everyone! Don't worry!" And then that man from before- the Tallent Agent... Equius searched his memories for the name. Ennard... Terrance? Something strange like that. Either way, it was the Talent Agent who suddenly said, "I'll go check on Iyo-chan's trailer and ensure her safety."  
  
And so he left, a genuinely concerned look on his face.  
  
"Ah, geeze," Jetta said from the bag. "I really hope this isn't our fault."  
  
Equius frowned, watching the sound stage's door swing shut behind the man who just left.  
  


* * *

  
  
"Oh, my my my, Iyo chan," Enter sighed as he entered the girl's trailer, and saw it utterly trashed. "What have you gotten yourself into now?"  
  
He looked around, and then found the most disturbing thing imaginable... a Stalker Shrine towards the star of the play, Equius Okimaw, that had been utterly torn apart and clearly taken away from this place, given its absence in the trash bins.  
  
Enter scowled. "Please tell me you haven't done something absurdly brash."   
  
He began searching drawers, and then sighed as he found the inevitable- a letter addressed to his false persona as a Talent Agent. "Dear Monisour," he read, "I've gone and given up the life of an Actress to be a Singer. Do not come after me. I must become famous on my own so Equius-senpai may..." Enter groaned, rolled his eyes, and dropped the piece of paper where it came from. "What a shame. I was sure I'd gotten her spirits up appropriately. I wonder what changed?" He could ask Okimaw himself, but... No. That would put suspicion where he didn't want it.  
  
"Fine." Enter said, retrieving his laptop, and grabbing a hairbrush from the makeup stand, thankfully left where it was because it was the studio's property and Iyo hadn't stolen it. "I'll just have to make a replacement."  
  
He placed the data pad onto the brush, and selected a card. "Metavirus. Avatar Escape. Install."  
  
There was a flash of data and the usual cry of the computerized voice, except instead of it being a robotic droid of some kind, the computer voice cried out _ **"ES-CA-PE, ES-CA-PE"**_ as a perfect replica of the girl, Iyo-chan appeared before him, pink hair and all.  
  
"Yes, Papa Enter?" The Avatar asked as Enter removed the data pad off of her forehead from where it had landed after the transformation.  
  
"You need to pretend to be the girl I placed in this role, madamoisel," Enter said, smiling. "My plans hinge on her being present for the foreseeable future. Her sudden absence is... a hitch I will work around." He placed his hand next to her cheek, and said, "Until then, pretend I am just your humble Talent Agent, si vou plait?"  
  
"Understood, Mister Terrance," the Avatar of Iyo nodded.   
  
"Now go, return to set. You are needed there now, and..." Enter said. "I have work that needs accomplishing in the mean time."  
  
"Understood," the Avatar nodded, then headed out to set.  
  
Enter sighed, and then tsk'd. "To think after Majeste Gilgamesh rescued me from death, that I would find myself repeating these trials... Being a father is such underappreciated work."   
  
He closed his laptop, and packed it away.   
  
He had a runaway girl to locate.

* * *

"What kind of plan are we considering, now that Lord Gilgamesh has authorized us to resume our attacks?" Garuza asked as he and Kurantula gazed over their collection of masks.  
  
"I've already sent a subtle plan into motion," Kurantula said, sounding confident in his plan's success, "but that one will take some time to mature to its fullest potential. Time to become as powerful and reach as many hearts as we need it to... Time we may wish to use to do other things!"  
  
"An interesting idea," Garuza said. "It would certainly be a good use of our time and resources, now that both may have been compromised."  
  
Lord Gilgamesh had been... reclusive since the bomb Enter had delivered to him had gone off in his face. Many of the spirits had suffered greatly during that explosion, and Garuza... well, he counted himself fortunate that he had a different kind of object granting him his immortality rather than a spirit hijacking his own body.  
  
Innovation was the name of the game and what would eventually win in the end. The resuscitated dead barely had any imaginative ideas of their own, merely repeating plans from other worlds without original thought behind them at all.   
  
But even they were cowed after the recent setback. Garuza figured they would take time to gather their courage back up to attack again. Fear of being hit by that weapon again, no doubt.  
  
"We could use that one Jamenshi," Kurantula said, "but since we lost its linked Mask Jamenju, what would even be the point?"  
  
"Data gathering is never a failed pass time. As long as we ensure that the data it gathers is retrievable in the event of its own death..." Garuza mused. "We should be fine."  
  
"Ah, true, but that will take some time to set up," Kurantula said.   
  
"Then we shall test them with something else in the mean time," Garuza said, selecting a mask with poetry cards taped to its face. "I have no trust in this one to succeed as a Jamenshi. However... its linked Jamenju may be able to cause some damage. At the very least, it may distract them long enough for my Smog Jouki to finish the job."  
  
"Think you can prevent it getting hijacked again?" Kurantula teased.  
  
"Of course I can," Garuza said. "...But even if I cannot, then that too is a learning experience."  
  
"So we're basically back to Information Gathering, eh?" Kurantula asked, a little disappointed.  
  
"As long as we're waiting for other plans to become viable, why not?" Garuza asked. "You sound confident with your subtle plan. And if it fails, then we shall have to work on other things."  
  
"That we will!" Kurantula giggled.  
  


* * *

  
  
"What about this one?" Nepeta Leijon asked, holding a certain dress up to her chest.  
  
"Ehh..." Tomo Strider swayed their right hand side to side. "It's way too pink! And sparkly, for that matter. You might blind Atsuya with that alone before he ever takes a look at the skin it leaves exposed."  
  
"Ahhh! You're right!" Nepeta huffed, and discarded the dress to the rest of the pile. "What was I thinking???"  
  
As the olive blooded alternian girl panicked and searched through the other dresses on the rack of the random clothing outlet she'd dragged Tomo to, Tomo sighed, and looked over at Shovellow and Heliko, chattering to themselves atop a pile of shoe boxes Nepeta had already discarded.  
  
 _'I can't believe I was jealous over Harley showing Atsuya any attention period when Nepeta was already orbiting towards him,'_ Tomo thought to themself with a shake of their head. _'How blind was I to not see how much Nepeta was just fixating on him all that time? Geeze. The writing was on the wall, really.'_  
  
But Tomo supposed they'd been focused so much on their own heart to not be able to really pick up on the intent of others.  
  
"I really was being stupid, wasn't I?" Tomo muttered.  
  
Nepeta didn't hear them, and instead turned around, holding up a bright blue sun-dress with bright yellow trim weaving around the chest like a stylized gust of wind. "What about this one?"  
  
"Too Breezey looking," Tomo shook their head. "Also, that shade of blue isn't really your color. Try going a bit deeper with it maybe?"  
  
"Oooh! Good point!" Nepeta turned back to the rack, searching for something along those lines.  
  
Tomo sighed once more. _'I really need to pay better attention to everyone's feelings going forwards. That's for sure.'_  
  


* * *

  
  
"Harry! Sally! Time for Dinner!" came a cry from downstairs.  
  
Harry Anderson Harley-Lalonde sighed as he massaged at his forehead. 'Damn it.' He thought to himself.   
  
There was a knock at the edge of his bedroom door then, and in leaned his sister.  
  
"C'mon, Bro," Sally said. "You can't keep skipping meals without both our Mom's getting frustrated."  
  
"It's not like I'm not eating," Harry protested.  
  
"No," Sally frowned. "But you really can't skip this one either."  
  
"Why's that?" Harry asked.  
  
"Aunt Vriska and the Egberts are here."  
  
Harry sighed.  
  
A few moments later, Harry and Sally emerged down the stairs to find their mothers, plus their aunt Vriska and two nearly identical people, sitting at the dinner table.  
Neither of them looked anything like the John Sheppard they'd met on Atlantis, nor the girl named June Egbert who had given them those Overdrive morphers back on Lopan, but even so, Harry could feel the same source of metaphysical BREEZE filtering from those two.  
  
One was a man named John Egbert, and the other was a woman named Joan Egbert, and neither would admit to which had been this timeline's original John Egbert after Earth C had been transplanted from their old reality to this new one.  
  
Two years on, and the prankstery tendencies were impossible to get rid of.  
  
"So," Vriska Serket said before anyone else could say anything. "I hear you guys got to meet the me of this timeline." She flashed a fanged smile. "Tell. Me. Everything."  
  
Harry and Sally looked to each other, and sighed as they went to sit down.  
  
This was going to be a long dinner.  
  


* * *

 **EARTH DATE: SEPTEMBER 25TH, 2012.**  
  
The six of them, plus one other, sat in the Atlantis Conference Room.  
  
"So," Ashler Dering began, focusing on June Egbert. "Your team...?"  
  
"Got pretty much erased out of existence, and turned against me," June answered with a small shrug. "I don't remember their names even, not anymore. Reality seems like it got completely twisted up with whatever wish that stupid Monkey made."  
  
"Yeah, I hate the idea of Monkey Paw wishes," Ashler grimaced. "You never know how they're going to go wrong except that they are. And the other team...?"  
  
"Exchanged for or turned into gemstones and then I guess exchanged those for the Morphers," June shrugged. "I played a risky bet and, well. Here we are."  
  
Ashler gazed at the five morphers on the table, and the one still on Harry's wrist. She frowned. "You're not taking that off?"  
  
"Can't," Harry answered. "As long as one of us has a morpher on us, that wish monkey isn't coming back."  
  
"Exact Wording," Kanaya Maryam, the youngest itteration of her around atleast, chimed in. "He wanted to be at the moment none of us had the Morphers on us. So... Until all of us are forced to give these Morphers up, we can't summon it back."  
  
"It's either that," Tavros "Tavvy" English chimed in, "Or it'll wait until all of us are, I dunno, impossibly taking a bath at the same time."  
  
"Geeze, now that's a creepy thought," Vriska "Vrissy" Maryam-Lalond shuddered. "I do NOT want to see that ugly oil-lamp showing up while I'm taking a shower or something. What a creep!"  
  
Ashler frowned. "So... That's the situation, huh?"  
  
"Pretty catch 22, ain't it?" June asked.   
  
"Yeah," Ashler nodded.   
  
Silence filled the room for a few moments, then, Ashler continued. "Well, I might not be an expert on this Ranger shit or anything, but I know the pros and cons of being overly cautious when it comes to stuff like this. Sometimes, you gotta do what you can just to survive. And if that happens to involve feeding a giant dead spider lusus stuffed with a time dilation device to a giant mechanical monstrosity that could erase all life in the galaxy out of existence with one big glub, just so you can pick the whole thing up and dump it into a black hole? Well. Then you... gotta do that. Y'know?"  
  
June and Kanaya nodded, roughly knowing what she was talking about.  
  
Vrissy just stared for a moment, then uttered a simple word, "Bullshit."  
  
"I kid you not," Ashler said, looking at the girl who could have passed as her twin almost a decade ago. "Real shit that actually happened, no bull about it."  
  
Tavvy chuckled as he got the joke there. 

* * *

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 16TH, 2012.**  
  
"Woah woah woah!" Vriska slammed her plastic cup down on the table. "Are you tellin' me this timeline's me fed her Spider Mom to Feferi's Lusus just to throw the thing into a Black Hole!?"  
  
"I think that one's in the show, actually," Roxy Harley-Lalonde chimed in.   
  
"Oh, yeah, you're right!" Jade Harley-Lalonde nodded. "I thought they were making that up, to be honest. Time Dilation Fields shouldn't work that way."  
  
"Then again," John Egbert started, "you're the space girl, not the time guy."  
  
"True," Jade agreed.  
  
"God damn it," Vriska hissed. "I'm so fucking jealous of another me right now. Fuck, and here I was as a kid daydreaming some weirdo Carapacian tele-kicking her into a volcano or something. But taking out Feferi's Lusus at the same time?? Geeze! Talk about overkill."  
  
Before the conversation could continue on that front, Joan chimed in, "Can I see the Morphers?"  
  
Roxy seemed to get a bit uncomfortable on that request, but their kids presented their Morphers just fine.  
  
Harry's Mercury Morpher still resided on his wrist, and Sally's Overdrive Tracker rested just fine in her hand.   
  
"Wow," Joan gazed at the two Morphers. "It's just like on TV!" She looked towards John. "Didn't we get that season on our Earth? Like, 2007?"  
  
"I think so," John frowned, gazing at the two devices. "Little hard to remember these days, but yeah, that sounds about right."  
  
"So!" Joan smiled at the kids. "Are you two going to be rangers properly? Going out and adventuring and all of that?"  
  
"Vrissy and Tavvy got permission already," Sally said. "But..." She looked at Roxy in her stylized pink cat T-shirt. "Well, I want to, but Mom's still..."  
  
"I'm just worried about how safe all of this is," Roxy interjected. "I know the moment I have them give those Morphers back they might be in trouble of being attacked, but... How safe even IS it to go out and fight monsters every week?"  
  
"Atleast with the suits they'll be safer than without it if more monsters attack here," Jade reminded her wife.   
  
"I get that-" Roxy started.  
  
"I'd like to," Harry interjected. "I'd like to be a Ranger, but..." he raised his left wrist. "This one doesn't feel right to me. It sits weird on my wrist like it's just the wrong weight. But I gotta keep wearing it until we know what we're doing about that Wish monster."  
  
"Yeah." Joan nodded at that, "I get what you mean. It's like when trying on shirts and you can tell it's almost the right fit but not quite right all the way."  
  
"Something like that," Harry nodded in agreement. "But, well... I dunno if there are any other powers that would fit me other than this one, right now, atleast..."  
  
John looked his nephew in the eyes, and seriously said, "Well, regardless of what it feels like now. I'm sure when the time is right it'll either feel just right, or you'll find something that fits even better. Fate has a funny way of working out like that."  
  


* * *

  
  
Inside of the Atlantis Zord Bay tower, Gina Kae gazed upwards as work was being done on a new Zord Project- aesthetically themed towards the Kiramager's design standards, but made up out of metals and other materials rather than solid crystal.   
  
If they were going to have to fight against enemy Mashins... Especially ones that might repeat Garuza's latest technique of rapid heating and cooling to try and break the Kiramei Stone's surfaces... They were going to need a Zord that wasn't BUILT the same as the others and thus wasn't vulnerable to the same disastrous technique... and infact, could deliver a powerful counter attack of its own.  
  
She was calling the project as it was forming 'Mashin Drijan' with a fighting form of 'Gigant Driller.' And while it wasn't being designed with any specific Ranger-Mashin pair, she was designing it to BE compatible with most of the Mashin's gemstone sizes, as an extension of the Sub-in's ability to serve as an exterior shell of armor, as well as be able to combine with them in some form. Not that she had any Kiramei Stone involved in the Zord's construction itself, yet, but it was the thought that counted.  
  
Shovellow, for example, could fit right at home on the eventual right shoulder, giving the whole thing a four armed appearance if it were to work out that way.  
  
Still, that was a pipe dream for the moment. The Mecha was under the construction phase and likely wouldn't be complete for some time.   
  
She hadn't even settled on a main body color for it, yet, but the base orange color its body had during the current phase was appealing to her on a primal level. She could understand why her other self would design an entire Crocodile Carrier Zord in orange and black.   
  
It was then she heard an alert sound off- Zords were Teleporting from the Bay. Gina checked her KI and saw that it was the Go-Busters, having requested their Zords to them to do battle against an enemy Megazord that had appeared on a random world in the Alternia Galaxy-- an enemy Megazord armed with a blow torch for a right arm.  
  
"Well," she frowned. "I suppose that explains where the megazord from that fight wound up."  
  


* * *

  
  
 **EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 17TH, 2012.**  
  
Enter knelt in a cave, deep in the mountains on a random world in the Alternia Galaxy, and placed the metalized insect- a scarab beetle of some kind- down on the ground, and then followed it up with the nearly crystal clear Kiramei stone.  
  
"I was hoping to save these for later, but now It seems I'll need to push my schedule ahead to do something else that's important." Enter detached the usual cable from his laptop and replaced it with a two-ended one, attaching both ends to the two objects before him.  
  
"Metaviruses," he took out a card. "Antropomorphize and Searching. Install." Slide, the card went.  
  
Twin sets of green energy traveled down the wire into the two objects.  
  
That was when everything went wrong.  
  
The Kiramei Stone began to spark with light- silver-bronze flashes of energy fighting back against the Metavirus trying to transform its body against its will. Worse, that energy was now backpedaling down the line and then branching off into the metalized beetle.  
  
"...Ah. This may have been a mistake," Enter took one look at the impending failure of a transformation, and he detached the cable from the laptop before the energy could backflow into the Laptop itself.  
  
And then the Kiramei Stone began to SHOUT- fluctuating in size.   
  
_**"OUT! OUT! OUT! OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!"**_  
  
And Oh, did that Kiramei Stone sound _***angry*!**_  
  
Enter decided to cut his losses and teleported as far away as he could.  
  
Green, Silver, and Gold light flared up within that cave, and then, with a massive roar of an explosion and shattering crystal- everything went silent save for the quiet, muted, almost inaudible chime of the computer voice intoning **_"Shining Buddy Droid"_** four times over.

* * *

At a distance, Enter observed it, and swore. "...That was a waste of resources. But, now I know those stones are far more volatile than I expected. Mere Metaviruses simply won't infect them right, I suppose. Too Sentient. Also, installing two at the same time may have been an unnecessary risk. What was I thinking?" He sighed. "I suppose I'll have to keep looking for Iyo-chan on my own. What a waste of time."  
  
He teleported away again.  
  
Had he stayed to wait, however, he would have observed two mechanical figures exiting the cave.  
  
[One was a slender, female form, with a black bodysuit form, with teal green accents, and possessing silver hair of an almost crystal-like shine.](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gundam/images/f/fe/May_%28MS%29_Front.png/revision/latest?cb=20191128114622) Had Enter stayed to see her emerge, he would have rightly pegged her as the Kiramei Stone having taken form.

[The other form was male in form, covered in golden bronze and silver armor, with a head plate that emulated two different kinds of beetles.](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/powerrangers/images/1/15/Buddy-beetjstag.png/revision/latest?cb=20140214182057) Had Enter remained to see this one exit, however, and had he witnessed the conversation that followed...

"I feel as if I just got punched in the head with a drill," the female one said, very confused.  
  
"...I feel as if I've been transported to another world," the male robot said calmly. "Or atleast... a copy of my data was made, somewhere along the line." He examined his body. "...Am I made of Crystal? I feel lighter, somehow."  
  
"I think that may have been me, somehow," the female one glanced at her own body. "Though, I am quite certain my body should not be made out of metal in most places." She looked to him, and asked, "I feel as if I should have a name. Do you remember one?"  
  
The male robot considered for a long moment.  
  
"I am Beet J. Stag," he answered simply. "The J is for Jueki."  
  
...Enter would have thrown a fit and sworn as the universe established another familiar face in his path.   
  
"...I see," the once Kiramei Stone pondered for a name. "...I think you can call me... Mei... for the time being."  
  
"Mei," Jueki nodded. "Very well... Let us see if we can find out where we are. I get the feeling that something strange has happened."  
  
And so, the two of them chose a direction, and wandered off, never once looking back into the cave they had exited from.   
  
If they had, they would have seen the massive remnant of the fully sized Kiramei Stone that was now clearly missing several large chunks from its surface, and was starting to splinter in an even worse manner. In addition, they also would have seen the rapidly mending tear in space time that had been opened during the explosion that had happened mere moments ago.  
  
But they didn't see it, and Enter never came back to examine it at all.  
  
...But elsewhere in the universe, several someones did sense it, not that they could pinpoint where, and in the midst of their council meeting, Silver Wing felt a disturbance to the flow of destiny itself. It felt like a Slice of something across the center of her chest as if someone had slashed a blade made up only of tension across that part of her.  
  
It didn't do anything to ease her worries, and if anything, added to them.  
  
And so as the others struggled to consider their own feelings, Silver Wing spoke, simply.  
  
 **[Fuck this shit.]**

* * *

And then... there was one more as well.  
  
It was not sentient by any measure of the imagination... but sitting in amongst a pile of artifacts recovered from Old Athos was a small orange colored, conically shaped crystal.  
  
It pulsed with energy, humming with power, and faint sparkles of dark energy sparkled off of its surface.  
  
Had anyone had been around to hear it, they would have sworn the humming sounded like the Crystal was speaking a single syllable: "Mon."  
  
But nobody was present to see this transpire, and its effects faded rapidly after that point, going idle once more.  
  


* * *

  
  
 **EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 18TH, 2012.**  
  
It was a simple Thursday morning as the Ranger Class began to filter back into the classroom again, still sans two full teams and even more surprising, the absence of the one known survivor who had been appearing during the last few weeks of classes.   
  
It was that new absence that raised a lot of curiosity among the Ranger teams...   
  
And Gina Kae raised their attention towards her with a simple "Attention, Rangers. I have an announcement to make."  
  
All eyes turned to look towards her.  
  
"As you all know, during the last major battle, two of our teams were effectively erased from existence," Gina said. "While we're attempting to figure out how to bring them back, in the mean time, some restructuring has been performed, as well as some ad-hoc recruitment. It's taken some time to get all of the necessary permissions from parents signed, but... Today I'm proud to announce that we've managed to restore at least the power set of one of those erased teams, and their replacements will serve in their place until the missing Rangers can be brought back home to us safely."  
  
After a moments pause, she motioned towards a side entrance.   
  
"Please Welcome your new Overdrive Rangers. Sally, June, Vrissy, Kanaya, and Tavvy."  
  
And thus, those five entered, some familiar faces, others unfamiliar- but all of them wore the Jackets of the Overdrive team, with their morphers securely attached to their left shoulders in holsters.  
  
As they went to the marked table for the Overdrive Team, Rose Egbert glanced at the empty Ninja Storm team table, and then back over at her sister, June, who looked determined in a way Rose had not seen in quite a long time. She then looked towards her Girlfrend, Kanaya, who looked positively annoyed by the yellow lines in her uniform's jacket not matching with the jade-green sign embroidered on the right shoulder..  
  
Gina waited a moment, then continued, "As for their Sixth Ranger, I'm told he is still debating joining the Overdrive Team specifically. To that end, we'll be finalizing his choice later on next week, once he passes the same Selection Exam you all took before. Regardless of what power set he does wind up with, however, be aware that he will continue to wear the Overdrive Mercury Morpher until circumstances allow for him to stop wearing it."  
  
And thus, class began a moment later.  
  


* * *

  
  
"Is it just me, or does Overdrive Red keep looking at me?" Harley whispered to her team as they worked on a mindless busywork refresher test regarding manual mode Megazord combining operations.   
  
(They had to write out the math and alignments for their Zords in the event they couldn't automatically combine together. And it was exceptionally pointless given their Mashin partners did most of the heavy lifting on that front and weren't mechanical devices driven by automatic combining programs. Teams like the Mystics also had the pointless endeavor foisted upon them where their Zords were on some level Organic and they couldn't ever not just Combine together through sheer stubborn willpower in some way shape or form. But teams like the Go-Busters were working hard at the test in the off chance that their Zords automatic programs were damaged in some way.)  
  
Nepeta glanced across the room towards the Overdrive team, where, indeed, Sally Harley-Lalonde was gazing their way. She was trying to be discrete about it, but it was clear she was fixated for some reason.  
  
"Not just you," Nepeta answered. "Though, haven't we seen some of them before, somewhere? I feel like we've seen 'em before. It's probably that, or June and Kanaya said something that's got 'em looking."  
  
"It's probably because that Sally girl," Tomo started, ceasing her nibbling (thankfully not on the end of her hair) on the end of her pen's cap, "is one of the kids that Earth C's Jade and Roxy had."  
  
"Oh, yeah," Harley winced. "Almost forgot about that. God. That's so weird."  
  
"What?" Equius asked, "That the pile of alternate selves doesn't stop growing, or the fact that some alternate you has a kid our own age who is now taking classes with us?"  
  
"Both??" Harley answered. "And honestly, I'm still freaking out a bit over the whole 'Stolen Kiramei Stones' thing too..."  
  
Before that whispered conversation could continue, the Kiramager's morphers sounded off with an alarm.  
  
Gina looked up, and said, "If that's a Monster Battle, you're excused from the test."  
  
The Kiramagers checked and-  
  
"Yep," Atsuya announced. "Monster attack on... Lopan... Some town near Catherine??"   
  
Equius grumbled, "I guess Garuza's moved on from Earth C."  
  
"Well, we can't let him get away with causing trouble there," Tomo said, standing from their chair. "Let's Go!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A slight deviance on the Go-Busters morph phrasing- intentionally, I'll add. It's not "Let's Morphin'!" for a reason in this timeline, and instead "Set Visors!" This change was made for obvious reasons and not so obvious reasons :P  
> \---  
> Enter makes his escape with a bunch of Kiramei Stones. Oh geeze, I couldn't POSSIBLY be setting up for the future, could I?
> 
> I am, actually. Due to how I set things up this was the only way I could work future Kiramei Stones from Kirmager into the plot.  
> \---  
> Those are Go-Phones and Shift Braces, from Engine Sentai Go-Onger, rather than the RPM Verse Morphers. They're less an important plot beat set up and more just continuing the nod that the Metal Temple provides to my earlier mass-crossover work, Digimon Xros Wars AU02, as those morphers cameo'd there for a time. While I *AM* planning some more proper Go-Onger references later down the line, the Morphers aren't planned as part of it for the time being.  
> \---  
> Enter's plans regarding the movie set hit a roadbump in the fact that Iyo has gone and vanished. Why is that the case? Oooh. Well. [Spoilers.] ;)  
> \---  
> We are now officially introduced to the existing J. Egberts of Earth C, handily serving as a recap of what happened at the end of the last Act to make sure everyone's up to speed... Well. That's actually generally the intent of this chapter. Recaps. Recaps galore.
> 
> As well as some plot movements, too, I suppose.  
> \---  
> Given I had expies of Hiromu, Ryujii, and Youko present in this timeline, I had to find a way to bring in everyone's favorite Buddyroid, Beet J. Stag! Given this also let be make a fifth Go-Buster at the same time to fill out the roster... I felt this worked out for the best. It also inadvertently works out for some plot developments I had to partially retcon in later down the line. But for the most part this chapter wasn't edited too badly in the wake of those revelations and plan rewriting.  
> \---  
> Oh, speaking of fifth rangers, Once again with the Gundam references, I go! I haven't even see the season in question May is from, but her gundam-bot design is pretty similar aesthetically to the Crystalian style we see in Kiramager, so it works out fine, I think.  
> \---  
> The next chapter is INTERMISSION: Carefree Expression
> 
> Depending on my mood you may see it before next Friday. But no promises as to when.


	3. INTERMISSION: Carefree Expression

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Esprez mulls over her Shattering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Mulling over past death experiences.

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 17TH, 2012.**  
  
The one half of Mashin Express- the Kiramei Stone called Esprez- sat idly on the balcony railing of the Sheppard Family apartment one fine afternoon, watching the sun rise on a world that was out of sync with the City's usual day/night cycle.  
  
To think that she might never have seen another sunrise ever again after her shattering. That she truthfully hadn't for almost a thousand years...   
  
The shattering was worse than the usual slumber, when the Kiramei Stones weren't needed.  
  
Even now, her essence was very much... diminished. Before, she'd been Jouki and Fiya's equal in size, now... she was smaller, and presently halved, with her other half being utterly disconnected in continuity from her. A soul that should have been born instead and was born anyways, but still nowhere near as developed as most Kiramei Stones were when they were properly developing sentience.   
  
That other half, who had taken on the name Drybe after an utter failure to pronounce the word 'Hyperdrive', was presently snoozing away in the Zord Bay tower. Esprez could feel the other half of the stone she had been cleaved from residing over there- and could also feel minor fragments of herself in that other half as well...   
  
Nothing so firm as Memories, or even parts of her personality matrix...   
  
But just...  
  
Fragments, never the less. Fragments that were now discarded, fueling the life of another soul. Fragments needed to be separate from her inorder for her and Drybe to combine together into Mashin Express.  
  
But there wasn't much she could really do about the situation now. Whatever powers or perspective she may have had from the other side of life and death were long gone by now, having faded rapidly since her revival.  
  
What was, was, and now they were stuck in a holding pattern, waiting for events to resolve themselves at someone-else's whim. Garuza's whims, rather. And wasn't that a scary thought?  
  
Were she possessing of a throat, she might well swallow air to try and calm down her nerves.   
  
She remembered that battle, remembered how Garuza had seemed distracted, not all there, not quite fighting to his fullest potential...  
  
And then she'd noticed the surging darkness in his heart- Jamental- and she'd tried to rally, tried to take Jouki away from Garuza... but that kind of sudden fight in the middle of a battle with an invading Army's all powerful flagship was disastrous...  
  
And it was exactly what Garuza had wanted.  
  
She remembered him laughing as she'd cracked, shattered, and she remembered Jouki's pained screams as Garuza cast him into a forced slumber at the same time.  
  
And then... Nothing.  
  
Esprez sat there, gazing out at the ocean, and the City of Atlantis, and she wondered...  
  
"Soul Searching again, Miss Esprez?" Mahha's voice interjected then, and Esprez hovered just enough to turn back towards the balcony's door, where Mahha's own gemstone hovered through and over towards her.  
  
"Yes, I am, Mahha," She answered. "I'm trying to make sense of all of this to some degree or another. This situation with Garuza..."  
  
She turned back towards the ocean as Mahha landed next to her, similarly gazing out towards the sea.  
  
"Truthfully, it's quite the headache, isn't it?" Mahha asked.   
  
"That it is," Esprez nodded, careful not to upset her balance and topple off the railing. "And not even getting into the chaos of everything we'll be dealing with after, as well... It's quite terrifying, this uncertain territory."  
  
"We'll get through it together," Mahha said. "We always manage it in the end, don't we?"  
  
"Crystalia fell, didn't it?" Esprez asked in turn.  
  
"For the moment," Mahha said. "But... even if it is that big of a loss... it should drive us forwards to try and do better for the future, shouldn't we? And if there's time travel involved... maybe it's not so much of a loss as it seems right now. Regardless... it is what it is and won't be anything else until we're in a position to do or learn more."  
  
"Since when did you get so philosophical, Mahha?" Esprez asked, teasingly glancing towards him.  
  
"What? Haven't I always been?" Mahha asked, sharply turning towards her. "Though, perhaps it's because we haven't always spent so much time together in the past that it didn't-"  
  
"Mahha," Esprez sighed. "I was teasing you."  
  
"Oh..." Mahha went silent at that. "I apologize, Miss Esprez."  
  
"And stop being so formal!" Esprez insisted. "We're friends, aren't we?"  
  
"I cannot, it's simply in my nature," Mahha said, glimmering for a moment. "That is my Sparkle and Shine."  
  
Esprez laughed at his carefree expression of self, and then glimmered on her own, before asking, "Well then... I wonder what mine is?"  
  
"Eh? You've forgotten?" Mahha asked.  
  
"Pretend I have," Esprez said, leaning towards him, gently tapping at his surface with the edges of her own.  
  
Mahha sputtered slightly, then began to comply with her request with as flowery of a speech as he could manage.  
  
Esprez listened to it all, and she sparkled in the way Kiramei Stones do, much as how humans smile when they're enjoying another persons company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Friday's chapter is: MSK: 01X09: Let's Do The Time Warp Again! (Do you know how to juggle, Tomo-san?)  
> \---  
> This chapter is a bit out of sync with the last one, time wise. It's chronologically sooner than the last chapter, but I placed it here because there needs a bit of breathing room before the next chapter which, yeah, it's a Time Loop Episode. Especially after that huge opening chaotic mess of a second chapter. 
> 
> There's not much to say here other than that sometimes you just need a friend to pull you out of the dark and gloom, especially when times are tough.


	4. MSK: 01X09: Let's Do The Time Warp Again! (Do you know how to juggle, Tomo-san?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reset Button Jamen is just Jammin' to a beat of his own drum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Time Loop induced Depression.  
> Repetitive Picture Linkage.  
> Repetitive Text Sections.  
> Mild Picture Embedding.  
> Birthday talk.  
> Repetitive defeats.  
> It's a Friggin Time Loop Episode. C'mon.

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 18TH, 2012.**

The giant fish themed Jamenju towering over the modern city of High-nine, a neighboring the City of Catherine on the planet Lopan, began to turn around as it tried to figure out just where the hell it was supposed to go after emerging.

On its face was a mask which sort of resembled a city grid layout with two towering building shaped horns, and a swooping back sort of wizard's hat.  
  
"MASHIN GATTAI!" The Mashins were combining mere moments later.  
  
"Let's do this as fast as Harley beat that Poem Jamenju!" Fiya declared as Heliko attached to the chest of the mecha.  
  
 _ **_"MASHIN GATTAI!"_**_  
  
"READY!" The Kiramagers called out as Jetta formed the sword. "Kiramagein!"  
  
 ** __"KIRA-MAGE-IN!"__**  
  
Poem Cards rained from the heavens as Kiramagein marched forwards towards the Fishy looking Jamenju, who charged towards them as well.  
  
A sword strike lashed out, that the Jamenju caught by way of taking it straight to the chest, and didn't really catch it at all in the assumed sense of one catching an attack and stopping it.  
  
The Jamenju's eyes flashed beneath the mask, and a grid launched forth, laying over the city for a moment before forming into ghostly bell towers that shot lightning towards Kiramagein with a gonging tone.

["SMOG JOUKI!"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-hkbsra2.png) Garuza called out as Smog Jouki formed on the scene, roaring with mind-controlled anger.  
  
"Oh come on!" Harley shouted, watching as Jouki's attention seemed to be drawn to a nearby parking lot where some unfortunate people were having car trouble.  
"That's Just low!" She tapped her Morpher. "Drybe! Esprez! Let's go!" 

The two white gemstones errupted forth from a captchalogue, grew full size, and combined together into the train themed Mashin- _ **_"MASHIN EXPRESS!"_**_  
  
"My turn to go!" Harley said, leaping out of Mahha into the Train.  
  
"JOUKIIII!" Express cried out, shining beams of light down on the controlled Mashin. "SNAP OUT OF IT!"  
  
"MASHIN!" Jouki yelled- forcing the transformation back into train form.  
  
"Again?" Garzua grouched as he lost control. "Fine." He reclined in his chair, "Let us have another taste of the Legendary Speed Titan of Crystalia."  
  
 _ **_"MASHIN GATTAI!"_**_  
  
"READY! GHOST EXPRESS!" Harley called out as the mecha formed and rocketed forwards- landing a speedy punch against the Board Game masked Fish Jamenju's face.  
  
It skid to a halt briefly, whirled towards the Jamenju, and then-- "HIYAH!" Ghost Express delivered a series of blows against the Jamenju- so fast that it couldn't even react against them.

["I'm digging this speed!"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-hkbsra3.png) Harley clenched her fists up next to her cheeks, then grabbed the wheel tightly before spinning.  
  
Ghost Express unleashed a series of strikes with the chainsaw sword, cutting into the Jamenju's fishy scales.

"FINISHER!" Harley called out- "GHOST EXPRESS BURN BLASTER!"  
  
Ghost Express transformed back into train form, and looped around the Jamenju, tying it up with projected train tracks, and then transformed again into Robot Form above the Fish Jamenju.  
  
Without further warning, Ghost Express launched ghostly projections of Express's V Crest down at the Jamenju, and then rocketed forwards, sliding to a halt past the Jamenju after having delivered a Chainsaw cut so fast that it didn't manage to even be recorded between one frame and the next.  
  
The Jamenju fell as Ghost Express turned back to gaze at the imminent explosion, and satisfied that it was happening, turned its back to pose dramatically as Harley cried out- 

**_"CHECKMAGE!"_ **

Within Jouki, Garuza lamented, "Just as expected from the Speed Titan." And then he flared his dark aura- his Jamental powers- and forced the Combination to cancel.  
"Kiramagers," Garuza bid farewell, "I hope you enjoy the next Jamenshi for its own speediness."  
  
And with that, Jouki returned to train form and rocketed off into a portal, leaving Kiramagein and Mashin Express behind to watch them depart.  
  
"Damn it!" Harley swore as she watched them go.   
  


* * *

  
"HAHAHAH!" Kurantula laughed as Garuza returned to the flooded SGC. "You got controlled again so easily!"  
  
"I let them have their victory this once," Garuza said. "I studied the power Esprez placed over Jouki this time. And now..." he glanced into the darkness where a globe-headed Jamenshi began walking towards them. "We may not even need to worry about that after this one."  
  
"Ah, real shame we lost the Jamenju for this one, but honestly, if it got to that point they'd probably just beat it in one strike anyways," Kurantula agreed. "Let's wait a couple of days to mess with their heads before we send it!"  
  
"Still buying time for your other plan?" Garuza asked, glancing at his partner in evil doings.  
  
"Of course!" Kurantula grinned. "Even now as we speak, the Jamenshi's gathering hearts to feed the nascent Jamenju!"  
  
"Um, excuse me?" The newly arrived Jamenshi began. "But why are we talking about my already being defeated as if it's a given?"  
  
"Because it is," Garuza turned towards the Jamenshi, clenching his right hand into a fist. "Reset Jamenshi, your defeat will be the key to your victory!" Said fist was thrown out to the side to billow out some Jamental darkness like it was a cloak.

* * *

"When people Shine, Miracles are Born!" Esprez Narrated.  
  
"Kiramental- the proof of Warriors who can change the future!"  
  
"KIRAMEI, GO!!!!" The voice on the Morphers exclaimed.  
  
[ **MASHIN SENTAI: KIRAMAGER**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffuDLZEVUnY)

* * *

 **EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 20TH, 2012.**  
  
"Hey! You're Tomo Strider, right?"   
  
Tomo stopped, glancing over their shoulder as they walked down the hallways of Atlantis. "Uh... yes?"  
  
There, standing before them, was one Vrissy Maryam-Lalonde, daughter of the Rose and Kanaya from Earth C, dressed up not in the Overdrive team's garb, but something far more casual and fashionable.   
  
"Great!" Vrissy pointed at Tomo dramatically. "I wanna challenge you to fight Sally's Brother so it'll convince him Overdrive's the team to join!"  
  
"...That's kind of a weirdly phrased request," Tomo answered. "And besides that, why me?"  
  
"Uh... well..." Vrissy sighed, hanging her head. "I couldn't find anyone else on your team. Actually."  
  
"Maybe some other time," Tomo said. "I just got called somewhere important."  
  
"Yeah, sure, we'll figure out the specifics some other time," Vrissy nodded. "Sounds good to me!" And with that, she walked off.  
  
Tomo frowned.  
  


* * *

  
Tomo Strider walked into the Kiramager's lounge onboard the BC-304 Beltus in orbit over Earth C, scratching at their head as they talked to Shovellow, hovering over their shoulder.  
  
"Any idea what that was about?" Tomo asked.  
  
"Not at all," Shovellow answered. "it seemed to me like some weird kind of friend-related squabble though..."  
  
Then, they stopped in their tracks, watching as Nepeta and Atsuya were perched on the arms of one of the lounge sofas as Harley bussied herself with prying the seats loose for some inexplicable reason.  
  
"What the heck...?" Tomo started.  
  
"Harley's wallet's missing," Equius said, lying back on a table as if it were a beach chair. "Everything's getting torn up looking for it in the mean time."  
  
"But beyond that!" Fiya suddenly exclaimed, suddenly dancing around the room. "Now that everyone's here it's time for a Kiramei Quiz!"  
  
"Oooh! A Quiz!" Shovellow darted over to where Fiya was now gathering the other core Kiramei Stones. "What's it this time?"  
  
"Today is the birthday of One of us Kiramei Stones!" Fiya declared.   
  
"The Stones have Birthdays too?" Nepeta asked, glancing at the main five.  
  
"Yep yep!" Heliko nodded. "On Crystalia, the day a Stone gets consciousness is called its Birthday! Or, well, that's how the translation works out now."  
  
"If you wanted to be technical about it," Jetta said, "then the proper term'd be 'ignition sparkle best glittering awakening day'! But that just sounds kinda silly when you say it like that."  
  
"So Carry-chan, Rolland, and Lifton would have a Birthday of September Seventh?" Atsuya deduced.  
  
"That's correct," Mahha nodded.  
  
"I'm a bit torn now," Esprez said quietly from the corner, "so I'm undecided on whether I should observe the old date or the new one. Ask me later."  
  
"Way to remove one name from the ranking, Esprez!" Fiya declared. "Now! Everyone guess! Whose birthday is it?!"  
  
"Umm..." Atsuya started. "Jetta?"  
  
"Bzzt! Bzzt!" Jetta buzzered. "Not me!"  
  
"The correct answer is ME!" Heliko said, transforming into helicopter form and whirling around the room. "Happy Happy!"  
  
"It's your birthday today, Heliko!?" Nepeta asked. "Why didn't you say something sooner? We could've gotten you a cake!"  
  
"I already got one!" And then in walked Joey Claire, carrying a sylladex card in hand that clearly showed a cake on it. "Shall we sing the Happy Birthday Song?"  
  
Said cake was quickly decaptchalogued onto the table as soon as Joey had gotten Equius to get off of it.  
  
"Yes Yes!" Heliko cheered. "And someone get the Subin! i wanna eat it too!!!"  
  
And then in that moment, Harley looked under the sofa she'd torn apart and cheered- "Found it!" And out came her wallet from beneath the seat in question.  
  
Tomo could only smile as they watched everything go down...   
  
And then the alarms sounded off for a predicted Jamenshi attack.  
  
"AWHHH!" Heliko whined. "Not now! Not so soon after the last one!!"  
  
"Earth C, District F-79," Joey read off of the nearest monitor. "City of... Oh good grief who named this planet's major cities. City of Canned Plot Threads? Seriously, what does that even-" She shook her head. "Whatever."  
  
"The Cake will have wait," Atsuya said, jumping to his feet on the floor. "Let's go, everyone!"  
  


* * *

  
"Fear Me, Tiny Humans!" The Jamenshi of the Day cried out as people ran from him. "Run as many times as you'd like, I shall conquer you in the end!"  
  
The Globe headed Jamenshi was an odd one, with a gear like collar around his neck, and twin masks on his face surrounded by an infinity loop in gold, save for the blue arrow that pointed from the broken white mask over the right side of the face and pointed towards the whole white mask over the left side of the face.  
  
Finally, topping everything off, there was a white box with a red button wedged firmly into the total right side of the globe helmet.  
  
The Kiramagers came running up in that moment, already suited up.   
  
"Jamenshi!" Atsuya called the monster out.  
  


[Reset Button Jamen stopped in his tracks, striking a strange pose,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset1.png) and then turned his head towards them. "Oh-ho!!" He clasped his hands together. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Kiramagers!"

"He seems pretty polite," Harley observed. "What kind of Jamen is this?"  
  
"Two faces?" Nepeta gazed at the twin masks. "A looping arrow...?" And then she had an idea. "It's gotta be a Duplication Jamen riffing on our Substitute!"  
  
"That's gotta be it!" Atsuya agreed.  
  
"Bzzt Bzzt!" the Jamen called out. "Sorry, Miss Deft Incredible, that's incorrect!"  
  
"Eh?" Nepeta stared. "You already know my introduction call?"  
  
"Is there even a point to doing it when you already know it?!!" Atsuya asked- starting to move forwards, but Tomo stopped him.  
  
"Let's not waste time!" Tomo declared, turning their blaster on the Jamenshi- who took the hits in surprise.  
  
"OWOWOW!" The Reset Button cried out, hitting the ground.

["Something's off about this,"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset2.png) Tomo started. "I dunno what it is, but something's off."

"WHY YOU CHEATER!!" The Jamen roared- running at Tomo with a bull headed charge--  
  
Literally, because he tripped over his own too feet and toppled headfirst straight towards Tomo's torso. "I TRIPPED!?"  
  
Tomo threw their hands forwards to try and stop the Jamen from hitting them, but all that managed to do was get Tomo's hand on the big red button on the side of the Jamen's helmet and-  
  
 _ **FWASH.**_  
  
"-we'll figure out the specifics some other time," Vrissy nodded. "Sounds good to me!" And with that, she walked off.  
  
Tomo stared after her, blinking in confusion. "What... the hell?"  
  
"Something wrong, Tomo?" Shovellow asked, decaptchaloging.  
  
"Weren't we just fighting?" Tomo asked.  
  
"Fighting what?" Shovellow asked.  
  
"A Jamenshi?" Tomo frowned.  
  
"Not that I remember," Shovellow answered.  
  


* * *

  
Tomo and Shovellow returned to the Beltus' lounge to find things exactly the same as the first time.  
  
Nepeta and Atsuya were perched on the arms of one of the lounge sofas as Harley busied herself with prying the seats loose for some inexplicable reason.  
  
"What the heck...?" Tomo started, feeling an unending sense of Dejavu. None of them had been affected?  
  
"Harley's wallet's missing," Equius said, lying back on a table as if it were a beach chair. "Everything's getting torn up looking for it in the mean time."  
  
"But beyond that!" Fiya suddenly exclaimed, suddenly dancing around the room. "Now that everyone's here it's time for a Kiramei Quiz!"  
  
"Oooh! A Quiz!" Shovellow darted over to where Fiya was now gathering the other core Kiramei Stones. "What's it this time?"  
  
"Today is the birthday of One of us Kiramei Stones!" Fiya declared.   
  
"The Stones have Birthdays too?" Nepeta asked, glancing at the main five.  
  
"Yep yep!" Heliko nodded. "On Crystalia, the day a Stone gets consciousness is called its Birthday! Or, well, that's how the translation works out now."  
  
"If you wanted to be technical about it," Jetta said, "then-"  
  
"It's Heliko's Birthday," Tomo interjected.  
  
"WOW!" Heliko gasped. "You got it!"  
  
"Here," Tomo went over to the Sofa, crouched down, and grabbed Harley's wallet. "Your wallet."  
  
"Oh! Thanks!" Harley said, frowning. "I thought I looked there already...."  
  
Joey Claire entered the room, "Yo! I brought a cake! Anyone want to sing Happy Birthday for Heliko?"  
  
"Jamenshi," Tomo predicted, and the alarm sounded off. "District F-79."  
  
"Noooo!" Heliko whined. "Not so soon!"  
  
"District... F... 79?" Joey glanced at Tomo, a frown gracing her face. "Tomo, what's...?"  
  
"Later," Tomo said. "If there is one. I need to check something out."

* * *

"Fear Me, Tiny Humans!" The Jamenshi of the Day cried out as people ran from him. "Run as many times as you'd like, I shall conquer you in the end!"  
  
The Kiramagers came running up in that moment, already suited up.   
  
"Jamenshi!" Atsuya called the monster out.

[Reset Button Jamen stopped in his tracks, striking a strange pose,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset1.png) and then turned his head towards them. "Oh-ho!!" He clasped his hands together. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Kiramagers!"

"It was the same...!" Tomo stared on, watching as their team rushed in to fight and wasn't able to do anything against the Jamenshi, who ducked, weaved, and dodged the attacks thrown his way.  
  
"Too slow, Miss Rush Lightning!"  
  
"Not nearly sharp enough, Blue!"  
  
"Not so incredible, Miss Deft!"   
  
"You're Not sparkling, Mister Imagination!"  
  


[Tomo watched the trash talking and couldn't help but feel like something was wrong about all of this](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset3.png).  
  
"FUCK YOU!" Tomo drew their blaster and fired off at random into the melee- much to everyones' shock and surprise.  
  
One of the stray shots hit the button on the side of the Jamenshi's head and-  
  
 _ **FWASH.**_  
  
"-we'll figure out the specifics some other time," Vrissy nodded. "Sounds good to me!" And with that, she walked off.  
  
"Wait!" Tomo shouted.  
  
"Huh?" Vrissy stopped. "What is it?"  
  
"..." Tomo stared on for a moment. "Why do you want someone from my team to fight your missing Sixth?"  
  
Vrissy sighed. "Because Harry keeps complaining the damned morpher doesn't fit him even after the Alignment test! He clearly chose things that fit the Overdrive set, but NOW he's convinced it's the Kiramagers instead for some dumb reason!"  
  
"What did he draw?" Tomo asked.  
  
"Huh?" Vrissy blinked. "A silver drill, an orange tire, and a firetruck. And the firetruck's the Mercury Ranger's zord! So..."  
  
"Sorry," Tomo said, "But Tires mean Kiramager. Everyone on my team except for Atsuya drew one."  
  
"...Damn it," Vrissy huffed. "Why'd you have to go and say that for!?"  
  
"I dunno," Tomo answered. "Why do I feel like I'm caught in a time loop?"

* * *

Tomo arrived to the Kiramager's lounge with a smile on their face- going immediately to Harley's search, and giving their girlfriend her wallet back.  
  
"Here ya go," Tomo said.  
  
"Oh! Wow! I thought I-"  
  
"Looked under there already?" Tomo offered.  
  
"Yosh! Now that everyones here," Fiya started-  
  
"It's Heliko's Birthday, right?" Tomo asked.  
  
"Whaaat-!?" Heliko gasped. "But how'd you know!?"  
  
"Easy," Tomo said. "I'm stuck in a time loop."  
  
"A time loop?" And in walked Joey Claire, a frown on her face. "Oh god no, I thought when you aspected out as Heart instead of Time we wouldn't have to worry about that possibility."  
  
Tomo frowned. "What, you mean like...?" They glanced at Harley.  
  
"Argo?" Harley asked.   
  
"Yeah," Tomo nodded.  
  
"It's entirely possible," Joey said. "We've never seen what happens when the same person diverges enough to get different Aspect Alignments. It's possible latent Time Powers are surfacing in you that are running out of control now..."  
  
"Well, how do we stop it?" Tomo asked.  
  
"You'd have to ask Argo or your dad that," Joey said. "They'll have more insight than I do on Time matters."  
  
Tomo then sighed, "District F-79."  
  
Alarms sounded.  
  


* * *

  
"Fear Me, Tiny Humans!" The Jamenshi of the Day cried out as people ran from him. "Run as many times as you'd like, I shall conquer you in the end!"  
  
The Kiramagers came running up in that moment, already suited up.   
  
"Jamenshi!" Atsuya called the monster out.

[Reset Button Jamen stopped in his tracks, striking a strange but by now familiar pose,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset1.png) and then turned his head towards them. "Oh-ho!!" He clasped his hands together. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Kiramagers!"

"Yeah yeah," Tomo massaged at their neck. "I've heard it before, jerk." And then they opened fire with their gun-  
  
"Miss! Miss! Miss!" The Jamenshi easily dodged the shots.  
  
"What the-?" Tomo stared on.  
  
"Defeat can provide the answer to all things!" Reset Button Jamenshi declared, making an infinity symbol loop in the air with his left hand. "Oh Hohohohoho!"  
  
"AN OPENING!"

[And then Equius rushed in and slashed the Jamen clean through.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset4.png)

"Ffffuuuu--!" The Jamenshi fell to his knees. "I'm not giving up!!" He reached up and poked the button on his head with a uttered "Boop!" and a _**FWASH.**_  
  
"-we'll figure out the specifics some other time," Vrissy nodded. "Sounds good to me!" And with that, she walked off.  
  
 _"I GET IT NOW!"_ Tomo shouted, startling Vrissy and making her grasp at her heart in shock.  
  
"Yo! What the fuck, Strider!?"  
  


_\---_   
  
_"Defeat can provide the answer to all things!" Reset Button Jamenshi declared, making an infinity symbol loop in the air with his left hand._   
  
_\---_   
  
_"Eh?" Nepeta stared. "You already know my introduction call?"_   
  
_\---_   
  
_"I'm not giving up!!" He reached up and poked the button on his head with a "Boop!" and a FWASH._   
  
_\---_

"That Fucker!!" Tomo shouted. _**"He's the REAL CHEATER, NOT ME!!!"**_

* * *

[Reset Button Jamenshi exited a portal onto Earth C, dancing around with glee.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset5.png) "My name is Reset Button Jamen and I'll repeat the same time over and over again until I am the Strongest Jamenshi!" He laughed, then started skipping down the alleyway of the construction site he'd appeared in. "Even if I get defeated in battle, as long as I press the button, I can reset time to my Save Point to try again as many times as I want!"

He then entered the usual chase scene, but instead of his usual line, he livened it up, "Oh! It's only a matter of time before I defeat the Kiramagers!"

"Jamenshi!" Called Kiramei Red.

["Oh-ho!!" Reset Button turned towards them.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset1.png) "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Kiramagers!"

"We're already acquainted enough!" Tomo shouted, much to the team's confusion. "Thanks to your damned time rewinds!"  
  
"What?" Reset Button gazed at Kiramei Yellow- Tomo Strider- and asked, "You figured it out!? NOOO!"[ He covered himself as if he were completely exposed,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset6.png) and then cowered to the ground, covering his eyes. "How embarassing! I thought they'd never see my fuck ups! But I fucked up and brought one along for the ride! How could I!?" He stopped- "Wait."   
  
He remembered then-  
  
"Back then, it was YOU who pressed the button!" The Jamenshi stood, and pointed at Kiramei Yellow. "You hitched along with my save point when I tripped!!" He grabbed at his head. _"WHAT A STUPID TRIP!"_  
  
"I'll agree on that," Tomo scoffed. "So I guess I'll just have to destroy that button to end this, huh?"  
  
They then threw an under-leg shot at the Jamenshi- striking the button on its head from the wrong angle to hit the button.   
  
"Oh Crap!" The Jamenshi cried out, grasping at the now sparking box on his head. "I don't know what that'll--"  
  
 _ **FWASH.**_  
  
"-we'll figure out the specifics some other-"  
  
 _ **"OH COME ON!"**_ Tomo shouted. _"Destroying it resets things too!?"_

* * *

"Hahahaha!"  
  
"Jamenshi!!"   
  
Atsuya swung in, slashing at the Jamenshi.  
  
 _'No matter how many times we manage to beat him, he still resets every time because the button has a failsafe incase it breaks. It just resets everything.'_ Tomo watched as another-  
  
 _ **FWASH.**_  
  
"-we'll figure out the specifics some other time."  
  
Went by.  
  
"No matter how many times I get defeated-!" The Jamen gave a death cry as he got slashed in half by Harley.  
  
 _ **FWASH.**_  
  
"-we'll figure out the specifics some other time."  
  
"-I'LL RESET!" The Jamenshi cried out as he dodged Harley's strike.  
  
 ** _FWASH._**  
  
"-we'll figure out the specifics some other time."  
  
"Each time I reset-" The Jamenshi kicked Tomo backwards. "I...!"  
  
"Each time he resets-" Tomo snarled. "He...!"

"Becomes Stronger," Both finished their sentence at the same time.  
  
 _ **FWASH.**_  
  
"-we'll figure out the specifics some other..." Vrissy paused as Tomo slumped to the ground. "...Time? Hey, yo, Strider, you okay?"  
  
"No." Tomo answered quietly. "I'm not."  
  
"Is there somewhere you want to go, and can I help you get there?" Vrissy asked.  
  
"Yes," Tomo answered. "Please."  
  


* * *

  
Tomo Strider sat quietly at the dining table in the Sheppard family apartment, looking across at their older, alternate self by the name of Argo Lalonde, who frowned as they processed everything.  
  
"Another damned timeloop, huh?" Argo sighed. "I thought I was getting a Time Headache. I guess that makes sense."  
  
"I've got no choice but to walk this same path over and over again," Tomo lamented. "It doesn't matter how many times we keep resetting. It gets harder and harder to beat the Jamenshi and... I don't know what to do."  
  
"It was easier for me when Teal'c and Uncle Jack were caught up in it, too," Argo said, sighing. "I can only imagine how hard it must be when the only other looper with you is the monster you're trying to kill. Have you-"  
  
"I've tried getting someone else to press the button," Tomo answered. "But the Jamenshi's avoided it every time I've tried it, so... Yeah. Doesn't work."  
  
"Damn," Argo frowned. "That's..."  
  
The apartment door opened then, and Harley and Atsuya came in, Atsuya clutching his sketchbook.  
  
"Harley, how did-?" Tomo started.  
  
"Vrissy told June who called Nepeta who told me," Harley answered. "C'mon. Let's talk out on the balcony."

* * *

And so the three Kiramagers looked out over the sea.  
  
"Here," Atsuya presented his sketch book- [a scene of Tomo, suited up, firing a shot forwards at an unseen enemy presented itself](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset8.png).

"What's this?" Tomo asked.  
  
"I got this weird feeling and started sketching earlier," Atsuya said. "Then Nepeta got the call about what was happening and it clicked." He presented the sketchbook. "This is a vision of your victory!"  
  
"But you're not Time Aspect bound," Tomo protested.  
  
"Neither are you," Harley said. "You're Heart Bound through and through. And I'm Space Bound too, but... even I was starting to feel like something's been off. I think that Jamen's time magic must be affecting us too, just slower than it did with you."  
  
"Maybe," Tomo frowned, thinking about all the times they'd managed to explode the button and the rampant temporal energies were unleashed for the reset. "But it's still not enough."  
  
"I can see it," Atsuya said, tapping a finger to his head, next to his right eye. "Your Victory. You just have to define what that means."  
  
"And even if we'll forget," Harley said, linking hands with Tomo. "We're still going to fight with you to the very end!"  
  
Tomo frowned. "But that's the problem. He keeps learning how to beat us because we keep fighting to the end."  
  
"Then..." Atsuya started, "maybe you need to find a way to end it before the fight even gets started."  
  
Tomo paused- "...End the fight before it even starts...?"  
  


* * *

  
 _ **FWASH!**_  
  
"Where are all the humans?" Reset Button Jamen asked, gazing around the empty plaza. "I can't scare anyone when they're missing like this! Damn it, did that yellow fool decide to interfere before I even appeared??"  
  
 ** __"KIRAMEI GO! KI! RA!! MEI!!!"__**  
  
The Jamen turned around- and watched as Tomo, and just Tomo, morphed into their suit. "Kiramei Change!"  
  
 _ **_"LET'S SPARKLE!"_**_  
  
"Guided Shooting!" Tomo posed. "Kiramei Yellow!"  
  
"Just you today, my fellow resetter?" The Jamen asked.   
  
"Never," Tomo answered, tapping their morpher.   
  
**__"MASHIN SHOVELLOW!"__**  
  
And then a shadow appeared above the Reset Button Jamen as something large decaptchalogued itself.  
  
"Oh-" The Reset Button jamen got flattened by Shovellow landing on him.  
  
 _ **FWASH!**_  
  
"Bah! That fool!" The Jamen exited the portal, and began making his way towards the scene of the-- "Everyone's gone again!?"  
  
["MASHIIIIIIN!"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset13.png)  
  


And then there came Shovellow, rocketing down the street with Tomo riding on the scoop- aiming their blaster straight at- "KIRAMEI SHOT!"  
  
Reset Button Jamen got blasted before he could take the sight in.  
  
 _ **FWASH!**_  
  
"Grr! Don't underestimate my reset functions!" The Jamen cried.  
  
"MASHIIIN!" Shovellow's cry came out again, and--  
  
"KIRAMEI SHOT!"  
  
"I didn't do anything!" The Jamen cried, resetting.  
  
 _ **FWASH!**_

["I won't let it happen again!"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset9.png) The Jamen had a shield now, bronze in color, readied before him. "Take this!"  
  
Shovellow came charging again, and Tomo had a special surprise waiting.  
  
 ** __"KIRAMEI CHARGE! CHECKMAGE!"__**  
  
The shots riccoched around the shield by not even being aimed at it this time.  
  
 _ **FWASH!**_  
  
"Bechats!! Guard me!" Reset Button declared.  
  
"Go With a WOOSH!" Jetta's voice cried out from above this time.

And Tomo came falling from the heavens, blasting away-[ "KIRAMEI SHOT!"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset10.png)  
  
 ** _FWASH!_**  
  
Baseball gear?

["THIRD STIIIIIKE!"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset11.png) Reset Button Jamen was out.  
  
 _ **FWASH!**_

[Knight Armor? Reset Button couldn't even move.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset12.png)  
  
 _ **FWASH!**_  
  
Reset Button squealed in annoyance. "How many times are you gonna keep oneshotting me!?" He demanded.

[Shovellow rocketed forwards,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset13.png) and Tomo's voice broadcasted- _"As long as you reset right away, you can't learn anything from the resets!"_  
  
"I-I-I understand!" Reset Button threw his hands up in defeat. "Can we talk this out please!?"  
  
Within Shovellow, Tomo readied their blaster, and flatly said, _"No."_ They leaped out, striking the same pose that Atsuya had drawn. **"THIS IS MY CHECKMATE!** _**KIRAMEI SHOT!"**_

_**_"CHECKMAGE!!"_** _

  
**_FWASH._ **

Reset Button Jamen calmly, quietly, walked into the plaza, head hung low. He gazed upwards as Shovellow rolled forwards.  
  
"I quit."  
  
He pulled the reset button off of his helmet.  
  
Tomo landed, and stood, wary, as Reset Button walked towards them, admitting, "I'm giving up. I resign. I won't fight anymore. I don't even have a Jamenshi to back me up today anyways."[ He handed Tomo the button. "I'm going home."](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei09-reset15.png)

Tomo took the button without another word.  
  
"Is that satisfactory?" Reset Button asked, and then turned and left without another word. Tomo couldn't even answer with how speedy the Jamenshi was at retreating.  
  
"I did it..." Tomo stared off as the Jamen left.

* * *

Left, for his doom.  
  
"I'll never beat them," The Jamen said as he returned to his entry point, where Garuza was waiting.  
  
"And where do you think you're going?" Garuza asked.  
  
The Jamen looked at him. And said simply, "I'll never beat them." He started to laugh, staggering forwards. "I quit Gilgamesh's Army!"  
  
He turned his back on Garuza as he drew his sword, "I had a feeling you'd be a failure."  
  
And then Garuza slashed him in the back with a Jamental infused sword strike.  
  
"I knew it!" The Jamen cried out, turning to face Garuza. But what he knew, he couldn't say, as he fell forwards and exploded.  
  
Garuza huffed, striking an idle pose. "Weakness is my most unforgivable enemy."  
  


* * *

  
Kurantula winced as he watched this. "You're cruel. Well, you always are... But you're so cruel, Garuza!!"  
  


* * *

  
 _ **EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 21ST, 2012.**_  
  
"Happy Belated Birthday, Heliko," Tomo said, depositing a box of chocolate candies onto the table in the Ranger's classroom on that Sunday Morning. Nobody knew quite why they'd all been called to class a day early, but Tomo was going to take advantage of it anyways.  
  
"Waah! How'd you know!?" Heliko asked- in the guise of Nepeta with the Substitute, grabbing the box and squealing.  
  
"Did Tomo look it up online?" Jetta asked, to which Shovellow answered-  
  
"No, it's something much stranger than that."  
  
"Atsuya," Tomo looked to their leader, "thank you for yesterday."  
  
"Huh?" Atsuya asked, blinking.  
  
"If you and Harley hadn't come talk to me, I wouldn't have had the idea that broke the time loop," Tomo admitted. "I was about ready to give up. So... Thanks for inspiring me, Leader."  
  
"Heh, well..." Atsuya scratched at the back of his head. "I dunno what I said, but you're welcome!"  
  
"Now that everyone's here Before Class Begins!" Fiya declared. "It's time for another Kiramei Quiz!"  
  
"What now?" Equius asked. "Is it someone else's birthday?"  
  
"It is!" Fiya said. "Another Kiramei Stone's Birthday!"  
  
"Ooh! Let me guess!" Nepeta clapped her hands. "I'm gonna sayyyyy.... You, Fiya!"  
  
"BZZT!" Fiya interjected. "Wrong!"  
  
"It is I," Mahha said, glowing with a pulse.   
  
"Wow!" Harley gasped. "Your birthday's one after Heliko's?"  
  
"Indeed it is," Mahha said.  
  
"I'll get you some chocolates later too," Tomo said.   
  
"There's no need for that," Mahha said, but before he could say more...  
  
A rather tired Doctor Gina Kae entered the classroom, later than her students for once, and said, "Alright, everyone, settle down... Time for this emergency Class to begin... Though, some announcements after you've settled down."  
  
As routine settled in, Tomo sat down in their chair, and looked across the room towards Vrissy, who had a confused look on her face as Tomo gave a brief salute and a mouthed "Thank you."  
  
And then Gina spoke, and things seemed to go off the rails entirely for the day's plans.

* * *

[ _ **KIRAFUL! MIRACLE! KIRAMAGER!!!**_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzcI8KPeZd0)  
  
Tomo sat in their bedroom, gazing at the Reset Button in their hands with horrified concern on their face.  
  
"...Just what the heck am I supposed to do with This!?"  
  


* * *

  
 _ **NEXT KIRAMAGER!**_  
  
"Ah! The Morpher!"  
  
"HAHAHA! Now to finish you off once and for all!"  
  
"The jamen's attacking a Space Observatory!?"  
  
"Wait, what's this thing now!?"  
  
"MONSTONE!!!!"  
  
 **NEXT EPISODE: 10: Jamenshi, Meteors, and Monstones! (OH SHINE!)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is an INTERMISSION: Selection Bonus Round.  
> \---  
> So. This episode wasn't one I intended to accidentally foreshadow when I previously mentioned Window of Opportunity as a call back. So. I worked with it. Whee. That sure was fun. LOL. 
> 
> Anyways, I cut two episodes down into this one, because I couldn't work in the danged Poem Monster in a proper way, and I'd PLANNED originally to just flat out cut out the Jamenju tied to Reset Button... a rocket launcher Jamenju. I didn't feel it was thematically appropriate, but... well, then another future episode later down the line actually used the same monster with a slight modification so I made it a plot point that it didn't appear here. Damn it. LOL
> 
> ANYWAYS. Yeah. That's all I've really got to say about this episode. TTYL, All!


	5. INTERMISSION: Selection Bonus Round.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gina Kae reviews Harry's results.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Uh... A reconsideration of past events? Test results? IDK, this chapter doesn't seem like it has anything to it, tbh. >>;

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 19TH, 2012.**  
  
Gina Kae sighed as she gazed at the items that Harry Harley-Lalonde had chosen.  
  
A silver drill. An orange disk. A Fire Truck.  
  
Silver as a color fit with the Mercury Morpher, the Fire Truck matched the Zord of the Mercury Ranger...  
  
The damned Disk, though.  
  
She'd placed that in the bunch as one of the potential "tire" items for the Kiramager's powerset. It'd been intended to go for whoever drew Kiramei Red's partner requirements, but that hadn't happened, and she'd just honestly left it in the pile.  
  
It was a problem because each of those Tire Items contained a small fragment of Kiramei Stone within them. That orange disk-wheel, though, contained a somewhat more than usual significant level of it, and then that caused some other concerns. And more than that. The Fire Truck toy had ALSO been intended for Kiramei Red, because Mashin Fiya was a Fire Truck themed Zord.  
  
The Zord was for Kiramei Red. The Disk was meant for Kiramei Red. The linkage was THERE whether she wanted to admit it or not.   
  
Honestly, Atsuya's connection with Fiya was a strong one. The Athosian boy could even see SPARKLES in people- the same as the Mashin saw in their partners. There was a LINK. And Atsuya had somehow resurrected Mashin Express. That meant her initial assumption about these two items for Kiramei Red had been wrong on some level- probably the most fundamental one.  
  
Drills had absolutely nothing to do with the Overdrive Team's Sixth Ranger. Oh, they had an orange Driller zord in the works, but it wasn't the Mercury Ranger's Zord.   
  
No.   
  
But the new Zord she was having built for the Kiramagers?   
  
It was orange. It had three massive drills on its front. And most damning of all... She'd copied the base transformation patterns off of Fiya's Fire Truck form. Rotating torso, splitting lower section to become legs...  
  
Honestly, it was an efficient transformation. But... BUT....  
  
But that all now meant that the fire truck toy she'd assumed was tied specifically to Kiramei Red- that the orange disk she'd intended to be tied to Kiramei Red- were actually tied to something else.  
  
A Sixth Ranger for the Kiramagers.  
  
Harry had taken one look at his items and he KNEW. Just as GIna KNEW. They'd looked at those items and they'd KNOWn that the Kiramagers was where Harry was meant to be. Gina, at first, had panicked about Harry being the one originally meant to be Kiramei Red, but...  
  
No.  
  
Now she was thinking about something different.  
  
Harry was complaining that the Mercury Morpher felt almost right, but was off in the weight. Nobody else was complaining of their Morphers not matching, not even June who had completely switched COLORS, let alone teams...  
  
Silver was the right color for Harry.  
  
The only problem was that Gina had never created a Sixth Ranger Kiramei Morpher. Let alone one tied to Silver as a power. Or Orange, or any other color for that matter.  
  
"Fuck." She swore to herself in the privacy of her empty classroom.  
  
There wasn't even a matching Partner stone for Harry to be a Kiramager WITH. Esprez and Drybe's speed based Kiramental was resonating strongest with Harley and Mahha as a pair, leading to her assigning them as partners.  
  
The other three Kiramei Stones were just... utterly incapable of bonding with partners at this stage. Too Young. Too focused on the growing stage of development.  
Jouki?  
  
If Jouki could be freed, sure, but...  
  
"Damn it." She swore to herself in the privacy of her empty classroom.  
  
The only option was to start recovering the Kiramei Stones that Blaze had stolen from the vault. Those missing Kiramei Stones secreted away from Crystalia during its fall and now...  
  
Now...  
  
"Fucking Hell." She swore to herself in the privacy of her empty classroom, and began working on a design document for a new morpher, sketching it out on a piece of paper she drew out of a sketchbook.  
  
Using the Mercury Morpher as a Base... a searching function was going to be required. Something which could map a planet's GPS coordinates onto a surface- a Globe. The Morpher would need a Globe.  
  
And what globe didn't spin? Spinning globes... An Orange Disk would do the trick, spin the disk, spin the globe.   
  
She might as well use the disk from the test- it had enough Kiramei Stone within it, surely... it should work. But just incase it didn't she'd include a secondary Captchalogue Modus beyond the Partner Zord storage, specifically for absorbing larger Kiramei Stone fragments and drawing power from that specifically...  
  
Yes, that could work.  
  
Now, as for the... the... hrm. How did she make that fit on a wrist? Something about the angle seemed off and---  
  
She tilted the page at an angle.   
  
"That might work." She hurried, working more on the design documentation.  
  
She had to finish this before class Monday. Before Harry joined the room and she announced he'd be a Kiramager. Had to have the Morpher ready to go...  
  
Had to get this manufactured and finished and-- And---  
  
She had to get this done.  
  
The Monster Attack that happened the next day would drive her to finish her work even faster than she thought possible.  
  
Were Atsuya present to see it, he'd have been blinded by how bright her sparkling Kiramental had gotten during the actual assembly process. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter wound up setting up far more than I'd realized when I wrote it. Go figure.  
> Next chapter: MSK: 01x10: Jamenshi, Meteors, and Monstones! (OH SHINE!)
> 
> OH. YEAH. THAT'S RIGHT. We're jumping right into the next Kiramager Episode! The alternation pattern doesn't quite fit this act, alas.


	6. MSK: 01x10: Jamenshi, Meteors, and Monstones! (OH SHINE!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SHINING INTRODUCTION! IT'S KIRAMEI SILVER!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Wish Monster Returns,  
> Some rather annoying self-risking behavior,  
> Meteors,  
> Giant Crystal Monster,  
> Attempted crushing with construction equipment,  
> Absurd feats of strength,  
> Picture Linkage and Embedding.

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 21ST, 2012.**  
  
On the planet New Athos, in a storage warehouse that had been built to house curious artifacts retrieved from Old Athos' perpetual dig site, there was a flash of Teleportation, and Enter appeared within the building, scowling.  
  
"Damned Iyo," he muttered as he began wandering the aisles, "vanishing on me so thoroughly. And Garuza! Bah! Foiling my plans to try and figure out where she went with two monster attacks in a row! What a poor sport..." He glanced around the room, observing artifact after artifact.  
  
"But what irks me the most is that last failure of a Metavirus installation," Enter paused as he spotted a mirror, within which his reflection glitched ominously. "It seems Sentient Kiramei Stone is really too volatile to use... I'd thought I'd accounted for the sentience, but no... My own evolution was hobbled more than I'd thought, I suppose." He turned away from the mirror, having stared at it for too long.  
  
"What I need is something powerful to search for Iyo," Enter said to himself, more for his own tired brain's benefit than anyone elses. "Something that can search and search... But doesn't own my usual style and flare."  
  
He gazed at some old stone tablets, and dismissed them as useful, due to the large cracks running through their entire bodies.   
  
"No sense alerting Garuza and others about my where-abouts," Enter said, moving on from them. "The Kiramei Stones should have worked for that. But... hrm..." He paused, spotting something orange and glittery. "Maybe it doesn't need to be Kiramei stone specifically. Maybe any gemstone will do?"   
  
He approached a table where a spiky, cylindrical shaped orange crystal resided on its surface.  
  
"Oui Oui Oui!" Enter smiled. "You'll do nicely! Nice and powerful, but you're probably not a Kiramei stone, are you?" He took out his laptop and scanned the stone. "Non non non, not a Kiramei Stone at all! Wrong Mineral Composition. Far too heavy on the Naquadah, and far too light on the structured latticework. You'll never be sentient at all, with that kind of makeup. But powering a Metadroid? Tre Bein!"  
  
He took out the connector wire, and went to attach it to the crystal... only to hesitate.  
  
"Ah, but just to be safe," Enter said, disconnecting that wire from the laptop and replacing it with a FAR larger and longer cable.  
  
That end he attached to the crystal, and went out as far away as he could from the stone as he physically could before retrieving a card. "Metavirus. To Search. Install."  
  
The card's data shunted down the line, and for the first time, Enter found himself glad for this limitation once more. After the explosive outcome of his last experiment, well... Now he could simply say he was being cautious instead of the directness he'd begun to grasp before his unfortunate demise at the hands of, well...  
  
People who weren't here in this world, though their twins certainly were.   
  
The data reached the stone, and began to infect it with the Metavirus...  
  
 ** __"Searching Droi-"__** it cut off suddenly. __"Sear-Sear-Sear-Sear-Sear-"__ It began to repeat itself.  
  
Enter sighed, and muttered a swear. "I didn't have this kind of trouble when working for Majeste Gilgamesh, did I?"  
  
 __"Sear-Sear-Sear-Sear-Sear-"__  
  
Enter watched the data transmission finished, then grouched his way back over, retrieved the cable from the Crystal and glared at it.  
  
 __"Sear-Sear-Sear-Sear-Sear-"__  
  
"Another failed experiment," Enter scowled at the orange crystal. "I should leave before that noise alerts someone."  
  
 __"Sear-Sear-Sear-Sear-Sear-"__  
  
And then he teleported out.  
  
 __"Sear-Sear-Sear-"__ The voice stopped. Then, the crystal lifted off of the table, and began to transform.  
  
 _ **_"Atro~Nach Droi~D. Atro~Nach Droi~D."_**_  
  
And then it became a roaring, humanoid looking thing made entirely out of crystal and didn't seem to have any real robotic components to it at all.  
  
 _ **"MONSTONE!"** _It roared- breaking through the nearest wall to the warehouse and emerging out into New Athos' forested area.

* * *

"Go! Meteor Jamenshi!" Kurantula declared with a laugh as he sent yet another random, pointless monster of the day out to harass Earth C. "Destroy their observatory so they won't see the final Reckoning Come Their Waaaaaay! Ahahaha!"  
  
"You do realize that targeting a Space Observation Station won't help to protect the planet from an oncoming giant meteor when the Alternians have their ship in perpetual orbit, right?" Garuza asked, eyeing the Jamenshi head through the darkness for a portal to step through.  
  
"Of course! But I wanna see the Kiramagers sweat a little when they hear the words 'giant meteor impact!' HAHAH!" Kurantula laughed again. "Also! Also! Here's my sneaky plan!" He motioned for Garuza to lean in close. And so Garuza sighed, and did so. "I'm going to use the darkness energy this Jamenshi gathers to help feed into my Other Ongoing Plan Juuuust in case the Kiramagers manage to catch on and stop the Jamenshi at the last possible moment!"  
  
"Wise planning," Garuza said as he pulled away before his partner in crime could get loud again. "And what if the Jamenshi gathers all the energy it needs and makes this excess darkness energy useless?"  
  
"I've got a second secret plan ready for JUUUST such an occasion!" Kurantula answered, grinning. "It's such a shocker! The Kiramagers'll wonder just how we snuck a Jamenju in underneath their noses without a Jamenshi!"  
  
Garuza made an "Oh?" sound of curiosity. "Tell me more."

* * *

_"When people Shine, Miracles are Born!" Esprez Narrated._   
  
_"Kiramental- the proof of Warriors who can change the future!"_   
  
_"KIRAMEI, GO!!!!" The voice on the Morphers exclaimed._   
  
[ **_MASHIN SENTAI: KIRAMAGER_ ** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffuDLZEVUnY)

* * *

A rather tired Doctor Gina Kae entered the classroom, later than her students for once, and said, "Alright, everyone, settle down... Time for this emergency Class to begin... Though, some announcements after you've settled down."  
  
Gina looked around the room, feeling the tension building within herself as her students- the Rangers- sat down and settled in.  
  
"Alright, everyone. The first major announcement is that Seers are predicting the return of recurring Monster Attacks for most worlds," Gina began. "As of Monday. Tomorrow. The 22nd."  
  
She paused, letting that sink in.  
  
"For the following teams, Predictions are scattered and all over the place. We've already seen that with the specific enemy the Kiramagers have been fighting with two Jamenshi attacks within the last two days." Gina paused. "So, for every team that I call your names on, please remain behind after class so we can chat about this. Everyone else? We'll be performing tomorrow's lesson today to compensate for the predicted disruption."  
  
Once she was sure everyone was coherent on those facts, she declared-  
  
"Overdrive, Mystic Force, Go-Busters, Kiramagers," Gina paused, seeing them react in a way that failed to indicate they were surprised any. "You're all requested to stay after class."  
  
With all of that said and done, she then continued. "Second Announcement- Atlantis WILL be taking flight again early sometime this week, we're expecting it to be Wednesday, but it really could be any time this week. We'd like your teams to be off-city when that happens to be on the safe side, but we'll accept any volunteers who wish to remain in the City when take-off occurs."  
  
All that said and done, Gina nodded, "Alright then. The third announcement of today--"  
  
That's when an alarm sounded from both the Kiramager's and Go-Busters' morphers.   
  
"What now...?" Atsuya looked to his morpher.  
  
"New Athos?" Hiromu asked, calling over to the Kiramagers.  
  
"No," Atsuya answered, "Earth C."  
  
"Get going," Gina called out. "You've got some worlds to save. We can save the After Class Talk for when you get back."  
  


* * *

  
Harry Anderson Harley-Lalonde was startled as the two teams ran out of the classroom in a hurry, nearly running him over at the door.  
  
"Sorry!" Youko said as she was the only one who noticed. "It's an emergency!"  
  
Harry frowned, watching them go, then he turned to look into the classroom, to see everyone looking unsettled, and Doctor Kae herself looking dead-on-her-feet tired.   
  
"Damn it," she muttered once she saw him looking in. "Anderson! Get in here!"   
  
He did so.  
  
Less than a minute later, he was running out of the office, a determined look on his face, with his sister, Sally, calling out after him- "Good Luck!!"  
  


* * *

  
Harry arrived at the Stargate Room as the Go-Busters suited up and the Stargate dialed out. The Kiramagers had already left through Linking Book to Alternia Galaxy, but that wasn't where he was supposed to go. Not yet, at least.  
  
"Got room for one more?" Harry asked, coming up behind the trio.  
  
"Sure," Hiromu said. "Doctor Kae have a plan?"  
  
"Yeah," Harry said, activating his Morpher. _**"Overdrive, Accelerate!"**_  
  
And with a flash of silver and orange, he was clad in the Mercury Ranger Suit for what would almost certainly be the last time.  
  
 _ **WAA WAA! KAWOOSH!**_  
  
"Alright," Ryujii said, "let's go."  
  
And so the four of them ran through the Gate- the wormhole effect stretching outwards with its whining keen, twist, bend, snapping rush and then a flash of light.  
  
The four Rangers ran out into the middle of the village of New Athos, where people were running away from the giant, orange stone monster.  
  
"What the heck is that?" Youko asked.  
  
 _ **"MONSTONE!"**_ The monster punched at a tree that did nothing to it but stand in its way.  
  
"Something we need to get to Earth C as quickly as possible," Harry answered. "Apparently before she called Class in this morning, Doctor Kae got a call from Cassandra Fraiser."  
  
"And how are we doing that?" Hiromu asked, tapping his transport box on his suit's shoulder strap. __"Transport!"__ A sword materialized into his hand.  
  
"Easy, I let that thing break my Morpher and the Wish Monkey comes back," Harry answers, summoning his weapon as well.  
  
"Risky, but I can see the logic," Ryujii said.   
  


* * *

  
  
Back in the Ranger Classroom, the five Overdrive rangers placed their morphers on Doctor Kae's desk, and then went back to their table to take their seats.  
  
Vrissy looked mildly annoyed, but let it go.  
  


* * *

  
Enter's laptop beeped at him as he entered an alley way on some random world of Alternia's galaxy. He opened it, and he watched the battle feed as it came in.

* * *

On Earth C, the Kiramagers arrived to find the[ rock-headed Jamenshi](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei10-meteor1.png) standing before a Space Observatory Building with intent to demolish.

"Rock Jamenshi!" Atsuya called out. "Whatever you're up to, we'll stop it!"  
  
"Rah!" The Jamen turned around. "Kiramagers! It's time for you to DIE!"  
  
 _ **_"KIRAMEI GO!"_** "KIRAMEI CHANGE!" **_"LET'S SPARKLE!"_**_  
  
The Bechats came out of nowhere, and the battle began... only for one of them, rather.  
  
Nepeta found herself swarmed by the Bechats, and before the others could react- the Jamen had their attention again.

[ ** _"RECKONING! RECKONING! RECKONING!"_**](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei10-meteor2.png) He chanted- and then-  
  
 _ **SKEEEEEEEEEE---**_  
  
"Meteors!" Tomo shouted as the rocks began exploding around them. "He's sniping us with meteors!?"

The damned Jamen was throwing METEORS at the other four Kiramagers! Nepeta swore, but couldn't do anything to help them as she fought against the Bechats.  
  
 _What a nuisance!_  
  


* * *

  
Harry swung the Drive Detector through the air- trying to smash the Monstone's head in.  
  
The creature's face lit up generally in the area eyes would be expected, and then it threw a sucker punch into Harry's chest, sending the suited boy flying backwards at speeds that really shouldn't have been safe.  
  
As Harry flew- the Go-Busters fired off on the monster, holding it at bay and taking its mind off of Harry before he crashed into an abandoned cooking station.  
Some not-even-heated-at-all soup went flying outwards as he toppled, and naturally, the wish magic from before ensured it happened at all.  
  
The Morpher fried on the spot, and Harry Demorphed.  
  
Instantly, the wish granting, monkey-hybrid-oil-lamp themed Monster from the Lopan market appeared along with all of his goons right in the middle of the fight between the Go-Busters and the Monstone.  
  
"Hahaha! I Made It!" The Wish Granter was only able to say that before the Monstone fucking pummeled him from behind.  
  
The wish-made constructs colapsed as the Monkeys Paw smashed into a tree face first.   
  
Really, for a guy who corrupted wishes, he really ought to have thought out that specific wish a whole lot better than he did.  
  
Harry took a gaze, and recalling June's advice about the glowing stone on its forehead... Yes! There was a visible, S shaped crack on its forehead, with the orange half of a circle flickering as if it had been violently displaced.  
  
Harry took the initiative, getting to his feet and calling out, _**"I wish we were on Earth C!"**_  
  
The Wish Granting Monster's wish granting power stone kicked in without him even being cognizant of it- and he, the Go-Busters, and the Monstone all vanished in one burst of wish granting magical power.  
  
When they landed, however... none of then landed in the same place.  
  
Hiromu landed somewhere in a forest in the mountains, surrounded by chickens- Youko wound up tumbling into a giant silo full of carrots- and Ryujii wound up splashing down into the waters of some ocean-front beach.  
  
Harry and the Wish Monkey wound up in the middle of a rock quarry dig site...  
  
And the Monstone?  
  


* * *

  
Yet more meteoric chunks of rock were thrown at the Kiramagers. Tomo blasted upwards as best as they could, and Equius, Harley, and Atsuya did their own best to do the same, though their shots missed slightly more often due to how fast the rocks were falling.  
  
"This! Is! So! Stupid!" Harley shouted. "I can't grab onto them with my powers!"  
  
"They're probably not really falling rocks!" Atsuya guessed. "Just projections of energy!"  
  
"Jetta!" Equius summoned his partner. "Let's try that thing we've been practicing!"  
  
"GOT IT!" Jetta partially grew and transformed into his sword form, which Equius grabbed and readied into a stance. _"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"_  
Energy flowed along Jetta's whole surface- and then-   
  
_**"KIRAMEI BLUE! DYNAMIC!!!"** _Equius swung his partner through the air- cleaving the meteors out of existence with a single strike.  
  
 _ **"CHECKMAGE!"**_ Jetta called out as the explosions finished.  
  
"Well if you're going to cheat like that, I guess I'll have to introduce myself. I'm Meteor Jamen!" The Jamenshi introduced himself, and the Kiramagers glanced his way. "And today I'll blow up you all with ONE GIANT ROCK! I'll smash this planet later, once I destroy this observatory! Now! RECKONING!!"  
  
"This sucks!" Nepeta lamented as she slapped a Bechat upside the head with the backside of her own boot. "Stupid, Clingy, Bechats!" She shot another in the face. "Why are you all harassing me today for?!"  
  
Equius swung his sword-formed partner again to dispatch the meteors.  
  
Meanwhile, against the Jamen, Harley slid in with a sword strike, and Tomo locked on with a blaster shot- then, Atsuya leaped off of a building and slashed downwards at the Meteor Jamen.  
  
The Jamen went tumbling, and the meteors stopped.  
  
"Let's get the finisher!" Atsuya declared- him, Harley, and Tomo lining up next to Equius.  
  
And then things went pear shaped.  
  
Or rather, Stone shaped.

"STOOONE!" There was a roar- and then this crazy orange gemstone monster came leaping in from out of nowhere- [landing between the crazy Meteor Jamenshi and the Kiramagers, staggering the four of them- sending them backwards, and sending Jetta flying out of Equius' grip](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei10-monstone2.png).

"WOAH!" Jetta shouted.  
  
"What the heck is that monster!?" Harley asked as the Monster marched towards the Jamenshi. Equius readied his normal Kiramei sword, and Atsuya and Tomo got to their feet.  
  
And then suddenly- well.  
  
It was hard to describe.  
  
Nepeta's first thought was that the Orange Stone Monster MELTED and then MERGED with the Jamenshi. But then she saw the rapidly compacting and colapsing robotic frame within it and a flare of particles that almost looked like Binary Code flashing by, and then she realized something horrible.  
  
This had to be the robotic monster the Go-Busters had been dispatched to fight. But why- no- HOW had it even gotten here to Earth C?!  
  
"It entered the Jamenshi!?" Tomo shouted. "Why!?"  
  
"What just happened!?" Atsuya went to wipe at his helmets visor.  
  
"Go away, bechats!" Nepeta growled, even as a couple of Bechats kept her from marching right over and helping her team.  
  
Regardless, the process had finished, and Nepeta was forced to watch on as Meteor Jamen got a SIGNIFICANT boost in power.  
  
"I FEEL GOOD!" He shouted- lava flames erupting from his eyes. "I don't understand what just happened, but I'm blazing hotter than Oven Jamen now!" He yelled- flames bursting from his head entirely. "Touch me and you'll burn to a crisp!!!"  
  
He started rolling his head in a circle, generating a ring of flames around his head.  
  
"Then we'll beat you without touching you!" Tomo said, readying their blaster, and taking center stage.  
  
 _ **_"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"_**_ The kiramei disks, however, just melted in the face of Meteor Jamen's extreme heat.  
  
"Your attacks won't work on me!" Meteor Jamen declared, and then charged at them. "Start Wishing for a victory, because I won't give you the satisfaction _**OF WISHING ON ME! SHOOTING STAR ATTACK!"**_  
  


* * *

  
"A Monstone?" Garuza stared on in surprise. "How rare! I haven't heard of one appearing on Crystalia in hundreds of years before its fall."  
  
"Where the hell did it come from, though?" Kurantula asked.   
  
"No clue, but it's given the Jamenshi a significant boost in energy," Garuza laughed. "This is almost too good to be true!"  
  
And then they both paused, turned towards each other, and shouted in realization: _"THAT COWARDLY WISH GRANTER!"_  
  


* * *

  
"Ooh La La!" Enter observed as the fight between the Kiramagers and the powered up Jamenshi caught his eye via his laptop's hacked security feeds. "Was that my Stone Droid turned into some kind of energy infusing monster?" His eyes glimmered. "I see I see I see... I should have waited a bit longer, shouldn't I have?" He smiled, "Impatience is such a human emotion, I was unprepared for it to take root."  
  
He'd watch the fight for as long as he could before resuming his search for the stubbornly missing Iyo-chan.  
  
Turns out, it wasn't long, because the Meteor Jamen's increased power sent four of the Kiramagers flying off into the distance, and the Bechats and the Jamen ran off after them, leaving poor Nepeta alone with a dazed Jetta.  
  


* * *

  
Meanwhile, back in the rock quarry, Harry stood, hands behind his back, opposite from the Wish Granter, who was rubbing at his bent out of shape oil-lamp handle.   
  
"How dare you wish so foolishly on me!" The Monkeys Paw started. "Now you have no morpher! You're easy prey for me to pick you off and then go finish the other brats- wheerever they are- just as soon as I finish killing you!"  
  
"You say that," Harry said, casually performing a captchalogue shuffle of the Morpher on his wrist. "But you've made one grave mistake." Out went the busted Mercury Morpher, in came the[ Shiny Kiramei Changer.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei10-shinykirameichanger.png)

"And what's that?" The Monkeys Paw asked.  
  
"Your wish was only that my team didn't have the Overdrive Morphers," Harry smirked, finger hovering over a certain button on the morpher behind his back. "And the simple fact is... My Team Doesn't."  
  
There was a whining keen in the air.  
  
"You what-?" The Monkeys Paw asked before suddenly- he heard shouting.  
  
He turned his back on Harry, and looked up to see four Kiramagers flying towards him on an uncontrolled arc.  
  
"WHO THE-!?"  
  
 _ **_"SHINY BREAKER!"_**_  
  
Harry summoned his new personal weapon without Morphing, and spun tossed it like a javelin at the Wish Granter's exposed back.  
  
A thruster Ignited- ** _SPIKOOOOOOOOOOM!_ **-and the orange and blue JACK HAMMER WEAPON known as the SHINY BREAKER rocketed forwards on its own accord- piercing through the wish monkey's back armor, and shattering the back of his Oil-lamp like design.  
  
"Never turn your back on your opponent," Harry said, "as my moms always said."  
  
The wish granter fell flat on his back and exploded on the spot without another word- Harry spotted a gleaming orange stone rocketing out of the explosion, but wasn't sure if it was the full fragment of the thing or not.   
  
He had other issues to contend with as the Kiramagers tumbled to a halt on the ground a few moments later.  
  
"Owww..." Atsuya got to his feet. "What kind of attack was that?"  
  
Meteor Jamen then came walking up casually through the dust a moment later. "Ahaha! I found you now! Now to finish you off at once with my Killer Headbutt!"  
  
"Well, time for me to make my own killer entrance, I guess." Harry scoffed as the Kiramagers and the Jamen neither seemed to notice he was there. He casually walked back over to his fallen weapon in the smoldering ruins of the Monkey Monster, and grabbed it.   
  
The Jamen ignited his head and ran forwards towards the dazed Kiramagers. "FAREWELL, KIRA-LOSERS!!"  
  
Then- _"HEY! OVER HERE!"_ -they heard the roar of that weapon's thrusting rocket again- _**SPIKOOOOOOOOOOOM!**_  
  
The Jamen turned around to look and took a glancing blow from the flying rocket propelled jackhammer- where it landed in the dirt again a moment later.  
  
The Jamen rolled to a halt as his momentum bled off, and found himself positioned between the Shiny Breaker and Harry, who had lowered his orange rimmed, blue lensed goggles down over his face for dramatic reveal reasons.   
  
Because, really, for all that Harry Anderson Harley-Lalonde was a different kid from the Harry Anderson he could have been in another, less desireable timeline... He was Still Harry Anderson, and he was still a Theater Kid.  
  
"Who the heck are you!?" The Jamen asked, getting to his feet.  
  
The four present Kiramagers also got to their feet, gazing on past their helmets in confusion, and also recognition.  
  
How the hell had the kid they'd run past in the Atlantis hallways not ten minutes earlier gotten HERE of all places?   
  
"Who am I?" Harry ask-sang, quoting some musical. _"Who am I!?_ What are you even saying? I'm the winner of the game you didn't know you were playing!" He raised his morpher- the Shiny Kiramei Changer, and patted his arm next to the device. "Who am I? Well..." He smirked, ceasing his singing, and raised his goggles onto his forehead. "I am Harry Anderson, H.L." He struck his ready pose. "Now, let me show you a real wonder."  
  
He tapped his morpher's middle button.  
  
 __"SHINE!"__ it chimed, and then began playing a fancy melody as Harry casually, smoothly, shifted positions to have his changer centered over his chest, and then he threw his right hand against the wheel with a cry of-   
  
"Kiramei Change!"  
  
The wheel spun, rotating the globe, and then with a flash of silver light-- his silver and orange trimmed suit formed over his body.

[ _ **_"OH SHINE!"_**_](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei10-kirasil1.png) the Morpher cried out as the helmet formed, incorporating the goggles into it.  
  


_"Piercing Shining!"_ Arms crossed to start, Harry struck his rolecall poses, **_"KIRAMEI SILVER!"_**

"Since when did we have a silver ranger!?" Atsuya asked- shocked.   
  
"How--?!" Harley started.  
  
Tomo just laughed quietly to themself, knowing the answer to atleast one of those questions.  
  
Kiramei Silver gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight as his suit took in the light and sparkled brilliantly-[ even a rainbow glinted in the air.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei10-kirasil3.png)

"GGGRR!" The Meteor Jamen growled. "Just sparkling like that won't beat my heat!"  
  
"We'll see about that, then!" Harry said, raising a finger.   
  
"BECHAT! SQUISH HIM!" Meteor Jamen ordered- and then a Bechat driving a large construction dump truck rammed itself towards the newly introduced Kiramager.  
  
"Really? How cheap," Harry shook his head... then stood his ground.  
  
He threw a hand out and caught the truck as it pushed against him at speed- his feet sparked along the gravel covered ground, but he was slowing it down- somehow??  
  
That's when Harry glanced over his shoulder and saw another truck parked directly in his path.  
  
"Ah!" He didn't sound concerned at all, but rather like he'd had an idea.  
  
A moment later- there was the sound of metal thumping as the first truck stopped suddenly very close to the second.  
  
"Ahah! Pancaked Silver, served fresh!" Meteor Jamen laughed.  
  
Except.  
  
 _WRRRRRR!!_  
  
The First Trucks tires started spinning out. The Bechat driving it clearly hadn't finished the job.  
  
Everyone looked, and saw that Harry was just... casually holding himself in the air between the two trucks by just his feet as he did the splits between them.

It was an absurd looking sight, but somehow, he was just...[ holding the trucks in place with nothing but his own leg strength](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei10-kirasil4.png).  
  
"This is no big deal," Harry said simply.

"What strength...!" Equius appraised as the others murmured in awe, and we all know that he WOULD know sheer STRENGTH when he saw it.  
  
At that moment, Skymage came rocketing in from overhead, before depositing Nepeta to the ground and splitting back into Heliko and Jetta overhead.  
  
"Holy shit," Nepeta stared on. "What did I just walk in on?"  
  
"In that case, Bechats," Meteor Jamen summoned more Bechats. "Finish him off while he's pinned!"  
  
The Bechats ran at the orange armed Silver suited Kiramager...  
  
"Come on, Shiny Breaker!" Harry tapped his Morpher again- ** __"KIRAMEI CALLING! SHINY BREAKER!"__** and the Jackhammer weapon rocketed into his grip from where it'd fallen.  
  
He pointed it tip down into the gro0und and double tapped the orange power button.  
  
 **_"ONE DRILL BLAST!"_** The weapon called out, and then chanted- __"Going In, Going In, Going In!"__ -as it reved up to full power.  
  
"Take this!" Harry squeezed a triger on one of the handles, and the jackhammer did as jackhammers do. Pounded the ground with explosive force that rocketed forwards and smashed through the Bechats charging towards him.  
  
 _ **_"ONE JOB DONE!"_**_ the weapon called out.  
  
"What the-!?" Meteor Jamen stared on as the dust settled, and not only were the bechats gone, but so too were the TRUCKS. "He blew them all into smithereens!"  
  
The Kiramagers all shared similar shocks of surprise as Nepeta ran up to join them.  
  
"Did he seriously vaporize two trucks with that!?" Nepeta shouted, astonished.  
  
Harry glanced over at his future teammates, and mimed blowing them a kiss. "Now watch the finisher!"  
  
He turned towards the Jamenshi.  
  
"Now I think it's time for you and me to fight one on one," he threw his hands to the side, then readied the Shiny Breaker against his right shoulder. "Let's Make it Showy!"  
  
"Fine!!" The Jamen yelled. "In That Case! RECKONING!!!" He yelled.   
  
Meteors fell from above Kiramei Silver, who barely even glanced upwards and begun slashing his weapon through the air- breaking up the falling rocks with ease, then--  
  
 ** _SPIKOOOOOOM!_**  
  
He rocketed forwards, propelled by the Breaker- before he jammed it point down and spun around to deliver a power kick- "SHINING!" -the Jamen sprawled to the ground, then jumped back to his feet.  
  
"RAH!"  
  
Harry came in, slashing along with his weapon, using it like a very oversized sword. The Jamen tried to headbutt him, but Harry swung his leg over the Jamen's head as he dodged, then wound up blocking the next attack- a splurge of lava from the Jamen's head- with the Shiny Breaker directly.  
  
But it did nothing to the new Ranger's weapon or suit beyond push him back a few feet.  
  
Meteor Jamen powered up for another attack, and Harry planted his weapon to the ground before leaping into the air with a spin- dodging the attack entirely and landing behind the Jamen, who whirled to try and attack again- only to receive a series of punches to his front.  
  
He blocked a few, and then, "SHINING!" got kicked in his chest for his troubles- stumbling to land ontop of the "Shiny Breaker!" for support.  
  
Wait, that had been Harry Calling it just then, and the weapon rocketed upwards, smacking into the Jamen's face from below as it arced overhead into Harry's hands.  
  
The Jamen stumbled towards Harry as he pulled one handle back, extending two claws over the front end of the drill as it retracted inwards.  
  
He tapped the button- **_"ONE ARMED SHOT!"_** It chanted, __"Just a Moment, Just a Moment"__ and the Jamen turned his stumble into a wilde charge- hurrying towards his opponent- _**_"YES! YES! YES!"_**_ the weapon chanted as it powered up fully.  
  
"Since you're a Meteorite," Harry started- using the Shiny Breaker to grab onto the Jamen's head and stopping him cold in his tracks-- "Why don't you go for the Big Impact!?" --by way of then hurling him around like he was a giant sack of rocks and then--  
  
 _ **_"ONE JOB DONE!"_** _The weapon chanted as Harry hit the release, and Meteor Jamen flew into the wall of the Quarry.  
  
The Jamen roared- getting to his feet as the dust settled around him. "In that case! I'll blow Earth C up Now with the Massive Meteor!!" he threw his hands to the air, and called out- "COME FOOOOORTH!!"  
  
"Not happening on my watch!" Harry said, returning the breaker to its drill form. One tap of the weapon- _**_"ONE BEAM JOB! Glad To Do It! (Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!)"_** _\- [and then the drill began to glow with sparkling energy as he lined up a shot that formed into a giant silver energy drill at the tip of the weapon](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei10-kirasil5.png).

Meteor Jamen looked down from the heavens with sudden realization- "Wait, what's that?"  
  
 _ **_"(Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!)"_** _[A glowing depiction of the road emblem sash on Kiramei Silver's suit appeared on the ground leading the way between Harry and the Jamen- providing a perfect runway](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei10-kirasil6.png).

"Oh No...!" The Jamen Realized what was going on.  
  
 _ **_"(Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!)"_**_  
  
 **"SHINING BEAM ATTACK!"** Harry called out and he puilled the trigger.  
  
The Silver Drill rushed down the runway- only for the road to suddenly buckle upwards to form a ramp, launching the drill upwards and then downwards at an angle- where it pierced through Meteor Jamen- and more importantly, the Orange Stone within his body- leading to him to explode instantly.  
  
And Harry watched it happen without even turning his back on the explosion- the orange light of the first blast flaring up against his visor dramatically.  
  
 _ **_"ONE JOB DONE!"_** _ the weapon called, and Harry turned his back to the explosion as secondary and tirtiary explosions went off.

**__"SPLENDID!"__ **

"Now this feels like the right weight," Harry said to himself.  
  


* * *

  
  
Garuza and Kurantula gazed on as their Meteor Jamen exploded.  
  
"So..." Garuza started. "There's a Sixth Kiramager now."  
  
"So there is," Kurantula confirmed.  
  
"This definitely changes things," Garuza said.  
  
"Yeah, it does," Kurantula agreed.   
  
"We're going to need to do more reconisance," Garuza said.  
  
"I figured you were going to say that," Kurantula sighed.  
  
"Starting with finding the General who launched that damned Wish Granter in the first place," Garuza turned his back to the live feed of Earth C.   
  
"And then what?" Kurantula asked, following Garuza as he stomped off.  
  
"And then we ask him what happened to the OTHER Ranger Teams that fought it," Garuza answered grimly.  
  


* * *

  
  
Back on the Beltus, in the lounge room, the Go-Busters team was waiting as the Kiramagers, all six of them, arrived from the planet below.  
  
"Welcome back," Hiromu said, smiling at them. "We saw the whole fight once we made it back here."  
  
"That was a really tough monster," Youko said. "I was surprised when ours merged with yours!"  
  
"Atleast the Wish Maker's dead," Harry said. "Now his wishes should be undone."  
  
"Hopefully," Ryujii nodded. "In the meantime... no giant monster?"  
  
"Meteor Jamen must not have gotten much of anything to summon the Jamenju," Nepeta said. "Still, that was a frustrating fight, for sure."  
  
"Well, if we're lucky we won't have to worry about more attacks for the rest of the week," Atsuya smiled. "After three successive battles like that, Garuza's gotta be feeling pretty ticked off about his plans being foiled so consistently!"  
  
"Plus," Equius smirked. "Now we Kiramagers have a sixth ranger. Whatever enemys face us now... we're going to be stronger facing them."  
  
"Don't forget, we're all in this together," Harely said, putting her right hand forwards. "From now on... Gilgamesh's combined armies won't know what hit them. Kiramagers, Go-Busters, Mystics and Overdrives! We'll beat them all!"  
  
The other eight teens rapidly put their hands together ontop of hers, and with one cry, they threw their hands into the air:  
  
 ** _"GO, RANGERS, GO!"_**

* * *

[ _ **KIRAFUL! MIRACLE! KIRAMAGER!!!**_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzcI8KPeZd0)  
  
"A Monstone on Crystalia was a powerful, malevolent type of Kiramei stone fueled by Jamental instead of Kiramental!" Heliko explained, darting around the lounge room in Toy Helicopter form.   
  
"But we gotta be careful," Fiya said, resting on a table in Gem form, "their darkness can sometimes block out Kiramental entirely, keeping us Mashin from sensing our partners if they're too close!"  
  
"Thank goodness that was the only one, right?" Jetta asked, wooshing around the room in a toy jet form.  
  
"Don't Jinx Us!" Heliko and Fiya shouted at him.  
  
"Wah!" Jetta faltered backwards.  
  


* * *

  
 _ **NEXT KIRAMAGER!**_  
  
"Let my song crush your hearts into darkness!"  
  
"More Magic Possession Cards!?"  
  
"I knew there was something off with that girl!!"  
  
 **NEXT EPISODE: 11: My music will cut through your heart! "Please love me, Senpai!" (Say no to Stalkers, Kids!)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> References this chapter: SPIKOOOM! The sound effect from Kyoryuger's team weapon, the Kentrospiker. And yes, Harry DID indeed paraphrase-sing from The Steven Universe Movie Musical. :P I couldn't help it. The "Let's make it showy" is a nod towards Gokaiger, as well.
> 
> "Go, Rangers, GO!" is intentionally meant as a nod towards Ninjago, though I'm sure the phrase has shown up in Power Rangers before.  
> \---  
> I couldn't make the original wordplay of "Since you're a meteorite, why don't you take responsibility" work for Harry here, just because English's words for "Meteorite" and "responsibility" sound nothing alike like they do in Japanese. Hence, going for the big impact instead. :P  
> \---  
> The episode was unchanged save for the moment of the wish monster's death in light of later reveals in Kiramager that made me make some changes in these early chapters. 
> 
> I can't say the same about the next chapter- MINISODE: Luck, in this case, is fake as shit. -Which was written explicitly in the wake of the changes I was having to make. 
> 
> So yeah, expect that sometime in the next few days, I guess.


	7. MINISODE: Luck, in this case, is fake as shit.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Decided to just go ahead and post this. It's short enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Tripping.  
> Grandfather Clock. (Not the God Tier Clock)

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 23RD, 2012.**  
  
A Carapacian Carpenter on Earth C was working on a grandfather clock, and gazed at its head with annoyance.  
  
Above the clock face was a place for some kind of decoration, but there wasn't one to be found in the Carapacian Carpenter's workshop. They wished they could have one on hand, but, alas, it just wasn't to be.  
  
With a sigh, the Carapacian Carpenter stepped out of their workshop, and stretched their arms out as they took in a deep breath of the crisp outside air.  
  
They took a step forwards and tripped immediately on a crater that hadn't been there when they'd begun work... uh...  
  
Honestly, the Carapacian Carpenter asked themselves as they got back to their feet. WHEN had been the last time they'd used that side entrance to their workshop in earnest?   
  
The Carapcian Carpenter looked down at the ground, and did a double take at the orange crystal that almost looked like a claw resting within the crater they'd tripped over.  
  
With a gasp and a **_squee_** , the Carapacian Carpenter retrieved the subtly glowing-in-the-sun orange crystal and knew. Just KNEW. That this HAD to be the centerpiece of their new Grandfather Clock!  
  
How lucky of them to find this beautiful find!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah. That danged stone. That. GOSH. DANGED. STONE. 
> 
> CC there has no idea what they stumbled onto.
> 
> Next chapter: SGA:06X10: Out of Order.


	8. SGA:06X10: Out of Order.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Updates resuming Mondays and Fridays.  
> \---  
> Garuza and Kurantula meet the General behind the Wish Monkey, Lothor; the Rangers consider their options; Earth C is brought up to date on current events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Implications of Mind Control;  
> Recap Episode covering past events;  
> Homestuck Epilogues: Candy Timeline;  
> Escape is not a good Actress, and isn't pretending to be Iyo very well;  
> Blatant After effects of Memory Manipulation;  
> (!!!)Recapped Plot Spoilers for Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters(!!!)

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 22ND, 2012.**  
  
On a bright and sunny beach on Gilgamesh's conquered Earth, a man in swim trunks and a black, ninja themed wrestling mask sat on a lounge chair as a small legion of every day minions known as Kelzaks tended to his every whim, including feeding him grapes.  
  
Nearby, seemingly mind controlled Ninja Rangers worked on assembling a robot body to replace their missing teammate- the Yellow one who'd turned to wearing Black when she rebooted the disappeared Overdrive team.  
  
The Wish Monster's wishes hadn't been undone as the Rangers had hoped, it seemed. What an interesting turn of events.  
  
"Are you SURE this is the general?" Garuza asked, watching this from atop a nearby grassy hill.  
  
"Yeah, it's him," Kurantula answered. "Apparently he REALLY styled himself after his counterpart on Earth's Ranger TV show- rebuilding the armies to a T, even took on his name and found the same damned host to possess as the actor who played him, too. That's dedication to the part, I suppose."  
  
"That makes my nerves itch for some reason," Garuza grunted, and then he started walking down the hill towards the man known currently as Lothor.   
  
It wasn't his name, though. Garuza knew that well enough. He'd done his research, and all points indicated that this was instead a man who had once been known as the Child of Light, Cu Chulainn. But even THAT may have been a misdirection of a name intended to make people wary of those using the names of the old Earth Myths.   
  
The man had not even used a lance even once since he'd possessed this host, after all.  
  
No, it was far more likely all this misdirection was befitting someone more of an Assassin than a Lancer type.  
  
"Lothor!" The supposedly controlled Red Ninja Storm Ranger called out. "Someone in heavy armor and a bad makeup dye job approaches!"  
  
The masked man glanced upwards at Garuza, and laughed. "Ahaha! Garuza! I was wonderin' when you'd finally get around to hasslin' my corner of things once that Enter guy went and blew up the Boss' throne room!" He sat up, grinning at the Crystalian. "What can I do for ya?"  
  
The Kelzaks went to do other things, getting the hint.  
  
Garuza and Kurantula came to a halt next to the General who had sent the disastrous wish granting monster into battle during the grand failed mass invasion attempt of the previous month.  
  
"What you can do for us is already apparent," Garuza said, motioning at the Ninja Storm rangers. "How did you mind control them?"  
  
"Easy," Lothor said, "I dunked 'em in a pit of green slime and left 'em to simmer for a few hours!" He said it too easily. Garuza supposed it could be the truth, but to give up that method so easily... "Want me to do the same for your Ranger Problem?"  
  
"Not exactly," Garuza said. "Do you have access to their Zords?"  
  
"Of course I got access to their zords, well, except for the Yellow One," Lothor said. "I did the smart thing and summoned their zords the minute they fell under my control! Why do you think I'm having them build a robot to take control of the Yellow One? I'm not a total idiot who lets his personal Train get hijacked whenever it comes out into battle, now am I?"  
  
Garuza's hands clenched into fists, and Kurantula flinched at the thinly veiled insult.  
  
"Anyways, enough about me, why do you want my Zords?" Lothor asked, pressing for details.  
  
"Nothing, for now," Garuza said. "If you're missing one, it's useless to my needs at the moment."  
  
And with that, he turned to leave without another word.  
  
"Ah, give us a call when you've gotten the Yellow Ranger's Zord," Kurantula said, bowing out to follow Garuza. "Garuza! Wait! Wait for me!!"  
  
Lothor watched them leave, then chuckled to himself. "Well, now, wasn't that an interesting conversation about nothing?"

* * *

[ **o < \--- STARGATE: ATLANTIS --- >o** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0K2bRdtGlg)

* * *

Karkat Vantas sat across from Karkat Vantas.  
  
One of them had an eye patch, the other was wearing a baseball cap with the Atlantis Expedition logo embroidered on the front.   
  
Despite that eye patch the one had, their eyes were firmly locked on the other.  
  
Meanwhile, one former Major Davis Strider and one Dave Strider, Knight of Time, watched their respective husbands engage in their little staring contest from the relative safety of the water cooler in one corner of the room.  
  
"I'm literally amazed they haven't started shouting at each other yet," Knight Dave said.  
  
"That a common thing with your Karkat?" Major Davis asked.  
  
"You'd not believe the amount of trans-temporal-timeline-memo bee-ess we went through as kids," Knight Dave said, then paused, and looked at his alternate self. "What about yours?"  
  
"Less shouting, more incessant and relentless trolling with future knowledge," Major Davis answered.  
  
The doors to the conference room opened, and in walked Two sets of Rose Lalonde and Kanaya Maryam, chatting with each other about the trials and tribulations of raising a daughter.   
  
Both Daves paid them only the barest of attention before they were relieved that they weren't going to get hassled before this very important top secret meeting of the minds type deal got underway.  
  
Almost everyone who could have gathered to meet with an alternate self of theirs had gathered to meet with their alternate self here.  
  
Knight Dave saw his Jade and pair of Egberts conversing with the Jade and John of Atlantis over in another corner of the room, near the snack table, of course. The Jakes were nearby too, though, they were only listening to that conversation and not really participating. Both seemed uneasy with each other for some reason.   
  
Probably had something to do with the whole TV show shit. Knight Dave knew that his Jake never really got over the whole thing even after events had pretty much proven it to be a retelling of real events in another dimension and not some scathing teardown of his own life by way of introducing kids that he never knew he had.  
  
Major Davis knew that said Kids were sort of half present at the moment. Jude Harley and Cassandra Fraiser were off helping Okurii finish up some last minute preparations. Joey Claire, though... well...  
  
The woman was leaning on her cane and was talking to a similarly cane leaning Terezi Pyrope, who was dressed much more fashionably than the Terezi Pyrope that Major Davis had known for the last decade or so of time.  
  
Namely, she wore her pants the correct way around, and didn't have a fine layer of randomly colored chalk dust covering bits and pieces of her body seemingly at random. She also could apparently see by smell as some kind of weird Dragon-Lusus Inherited skill, instead of his timeline's Terezi's ability to just flat out see things with a third eye that didn't get intentionally burned out by the sun.  
  
Said Terezi was currently off doing who knew what because of a random ass vision she'd gotten. Whatever it meant for their future could only either be a good thing or a bad thing, but knowing Terezi's history of vision accuracy, probably both.  
  
Major Davis didn't care to speculate at the moment, given the impending issues with the conversation about to launch off as soon as Okurii got here. Whatever Terezi was up to, it would be told to everyone in due time.  
  


* * *

  
Terezi Pyrope stepped through a Stargate, arriving in a random forested world. She sniffed the air, and then smirked. "I smell robots lost in the woods! Oh, Little Gold, Little Silver... Let me be your guide..."  
  
Then, she carried on into the forest at a seemingly random direction, leaving a trail of chalk drawn X's on trees as she went by.  
  


* * *

  
The Overdrive, Mystics, Go-Busters, and Kiramagers were gathered in the backyard of the Egbert family house on Diaspora.   
  
A few yards away the ToQGer team were running some training exercise tossing each other their Model Train cars and transforming through their entire teams suits in rapid sequence. Added to the chaos were the gemstone forms of the Mashin Triplets who were flying around trying to add object confusion and generally just having a blast playing some form of energy expending game. But those kids weren't part of this very important briefing going on here.  
  
"So, I think its safe to assume either the Wish Granting Monkey wasn't destroyed," June Egbert began narrating to the various Ranger teams sitting before her. "Or, whatever wish granting power he had was infact granted to HIM by someone or something else."  
  
"I'm willing to bet the latter," Harry said, "otherwise we can't explain how my Mercury Morpher broke so easily like that when I hit the cooking pot inorder to summon the Monkey to us in the first place."   
  
"Doctor Kae did design these things to hold up to a lot of abuse," Rose Egbert said, flipping out her Mystic wand morpher. "infact, generally they're supposed to be water and food proof. Just getting something splashed onto one definitely shouldn't break one."  
  
"I think we need to find that crystal you saw on it, June," Harry said. "I saw something fly out when the wish-monkey exploded, but I wasn't sure if that was it or not."  
  
"You saw something?" Mahha asked.  
  
"Yeah, an orange crystal," Harry said.   
  
"It's sorta yin-yang shaped," June added, taking out her sketchbook and showing the image of it. "Like this."  
  
The Kiramei Stones turned to look at eachother hesitantly, then...  
  
"It makes sense," Fiya said, hovering over Atsuya's shoulder. "Garuza did survive for a thousand years without aging. Gilgamesh had to have given him something to let him do that. Who's to say there aren't other magic artifacts that can grant wishes?"  
  
"Y-yeah!" Shovellow chuckled nervously. "Besides, it shouldn't be possible that he'd have Those Stones, after all."  
  
"'Those Stones'?" June asked, raising an eyebrow at the obvious phrasing.  
  
"Ahaha, just an ancient Crystalian Myth," Shovellow said, continuing to sound nervous. "Forget I said anything!"  
  
"Like that's not suspicious at all," Jetta remarked quietly.  
  
"Let's just tell them," Fiya said. "If it is those stones, then they're forewarned, and if they're not, it's pure coincidence."  
  
"Tell us what?" Atsuya asked.  
  
"Ah, well," Shovellow said. "According to Ancient Myth, when the universe was made, there were four special, ancient stones that, when brought together, are said to be able to grant any Wish you could have."  
  
"Even just one fragment could be said to hold immeasurable power," Mahha added. "Descriptions were vague- white with blue and red stripes; red with green, pink, yellow, and blue stripes; and a third of pure orange color. All in that same half Yin-Yang Shape."  
  
"Nobody knows what the fourth one looks like," Jetta said. "If it did exist, nobody's ever seen it."  
  
"But as far as any of us know, they never actually existed," Heliko said. "But... Jouki might know differently given he's been around longer."  
  
"We'll shelve asking Jouki for when we've gotten him back, then," Atsuya said.   
  
"That potential wish granting device aside, let's go over what we know about Gilgamesh and his possible artifacts," Hiromu said, "and also what we know about this Ancient Myth version of Gilgamesh that was encountered in Pegasus."  
  
"I can handle that part," Harley said.  
  


* * *

  
"Sorry for the delay, everyone," Okurii Leijon said as she entered the conference room, Cassandra and Jude trailing behind her. "We had to confirm that there weren't going to be any pressing threats today before we could begin."  
  
"About time," The eyepatch'd Vantas said. "We ready to get down to business?"  
  
"Indeed we are," Okurii smiled faintly. "I hope everyone's settled in and had enough time to talk about the simpler things, because now we're here to talk about the hard hitting stuff currently going on."  
  


* * *

  
"So, we know that there's been a lot of inter-multiversal exploration going on from what's probably a couple of different groups," Harley started to explain. "There's been the people who built the Bronzed Temple, the nomadic people who built the impossible tunnels, and there's whoever was behind the Centarus Wolf Megazord."  
  
"Catastros' memory is pretty... eh... hazy, I guess?" Miko Kubota said, patting the head of her magic phoenix bird pal, Ally, who sat with her long neck sort of winding around Miko in a weird abstract and probably not normally anatomically possible way. "Apparently he was being forced into the combination by whoever that dark knight was, so the memories are all... pretty much just scrambled? Yeah, scrambled is a better word than hazy. And Ally totally reincarnated, so no luck there either."  
  
"Well, yeah," Harley nodded. "Anyways. So. From what we know about the first and last group is zilch, basically. So. That leaves the second group. The Dimension Nomads."  
  


* * *

  
"About Ten Thousand Years Ago," Jade Jackson began, putting up images on the projector screen taken directly from Atlantis' Database, "The Gate Builders, the Ancients, the Lanteans, whatever you want to call them, were preparing to leave the Pegasus Galaxy back to Milky Way when two time travel incidents occurred, one resulting in a version of myself from a timeline where Atlantis Flooded beneath the ocean and the expedition died staying behind in Pegasus to serve as a means to prepare the Pegasus Galaxy for a proper visit from the Atlantis Expedition in our current timeline, where the City would instead raise to the surface when the shield collapsed."  
  
Images of those various incidents were wiped away, replaced with images of Frog Temples, and carvings left behind by that other Jade, as well as a photograph of a letter written by a Jade's hand.  
  
"This Jade began exploring Pegasus, eventually running into a group of people we're calling Dimension Nomads who settled on an uninhabited world in Pegasus, unaware of the Wraith Presence about to come down on them." Jackson continued, eyeing her alternate self for her reaction. "She warned them, but they failed to listen."  
  
The Jade Harley of Earth C snorted, and said, "Of course they did."  
  


* * *

  
Harley Sheppard continued, "Basically, these people had soul preservation technology of some sort. They digitized memories onto fancy cards or other objects, and basically had several warriors 'possessed' by ancient spirits in several specific cards, the names of which aren't really important except that they were used as clues for a kind of special Gate Address puzzle that the other Jade Jackson left for future people to solve, which we did."  
  
"One exception to the names aren't important thing," Mahha said, floating over his partner's shoulder. "The Tyrant Archer- Gilgamesh."  
  
Madison spoke up there, "We weren't sure until just recently that the Gilgamesh in the myth was probably the same Gilgamesh running the Army until this Blaze Guy tried to steal a weapon Uncle Rodney was developing just in case it did work, and we managed to test it on him."  
  


* * *

  
"This is the scan of enemy codenamed 'Blaze'-" Okurii clicked to a slide, showing a medical scan of a human body with a card shaped object lodged within the heart. "See the card?" She pointed to it. "The sheer coincidence of a 'card shaped objects' serving as a possession method was a pretty clear sign to attempt to use the weapon Doctor Mckay had designed on him. And while it failed to permanently depossess the host... it proved viable enough a method to temporarily disembody the spirit."  
  
"So Rodney and Roxy decided to make the gun into a bomb and let Blaze get it," Sheppard said. "After that, things went explosiony on their end. We've only seen Blaze once since then, and everyone else has been pretty quite in the days since up until recently."  
  


* * *

  
"Which brings us to the Kiramei Stones that Blaze stole from the Bronzed Temple," Hiromu stated.  
  
"Yeah," Sally looked at her brother. "Doctor Kae said she designed that Morpher to scan for KIramei Stones."  
  
"So, what's the plan then?" Harry asked, holding up the Shiny Kiramei Changer for all to see. "I go to a bunch of different worlds and hunt for Kiramei Stones hoping to pick up where-ever this Blaze guy stashed them?"  
  
"Basically," June frowned, crossing her arms, "that's probably our only option, yeah."  
  
"Whatever Blaze is up to," Hector started, "Him having a bunch of Kiramei Stones is a bad sign. What if Garuza or any of our other enemies in Gilgamesh's army start using them?"  
  
"Given that Garuza hasn't taunted us about having new Kiramei Stones since Blaze stole then," Equius started, "I'd say it's reasonable that Blaze is keeping them to himself. Whatever plan he's trying to do involves them, but he hasn't used them directly yet."  
  
"Yeah," Jetta said, nodding in the air. "That Monstone was one of the things dug up on Athos, not a proper Kiramei Stone."  
  
"Blaze definitely turned it into a robot of some kind," Nepeta spoke up then. "I saw a robot frame colapsing up when it went into that Jamenshi."  
  
"Speaking of, what's with that?" Youko asked. "It got super powerful from what we could see on the live feed."  
  
"Ah, Monstones are a tricky thing," Fiya said, tone implying a grimace. "Like how the Kiramagers and we Kiramei Stones resonate with Kiramental, those Monstones resonate with Jamental, the dark power Garuza uses."  
  
Mahha spoke next, "Legend says some of the earliest practitioners of Jamental were transformed into ravenous beasts after the power consumed their minds. Personally, none of us five can speak personally to its veracity."  
  
"It was before even my time, though, Jouki would know for certain," Esprez spoke up. "I don't know much, but... Jamental is a seriously dark power, and from what I do know, the Crystalian Royal Family squashed it out as thoroughly as they could."   
  
Mahha took it from there, "Geologically speaking, Monstones are Kiramei Stones with a bad balance of minerals. But if you take the legends into consideration, it's possible that they themselves were fragments of Kiramei Stone that were corrupted by the dark power."  
  
"Yeah," Esprez shuddered, the motion seeming odd for a gemstone hovering in the air. "It's possible that beast you fought was a corrupted fragment of mine that escaped from my own reformation."  
  
"You mean the Jamental power you sensed in Garuza just before you got shattered?" Heliko asked.  
  
Esprez nodded again. "I'd rather not think about the possibility, but it's a possible reason why such a thing would happen."  
  
"Another reason we need to get Jouki back permanently," Fiya said. "I'm afraid about what'll happen to him if we don't get him to purge that darkness soon."  
  


* * *

  
"So... thanks for the recap," Eyepatch Vantas said, "but that's not entirely all of why we're up here."  
  
"No," Okurii said, "this was just the recap on current events. Regardless of how the rest of this meeting pans out, you're all entitled to this information given the attacks to Earth C."  
  
Jake English spoke then, "Has Jane- Our Jane- said anything more since the trial reached its final phase?"  
  
"Beyond the obvious rhetoric and inflammatory remarks we've all be striving to ignore? She hasn't needed to," Okurii said. "One of our best mind readers, Boldir Lamati, has been able to confirm the locations of several backed up hidden computer servers. Jane Crocker's fate is up to you all."  
  
"We're still discussing that," Eyepatch Vantas said. "Though the current discussion's leaning towards execution, there's something I need to ask."  
  
"And what's that?" Okurii asked.  
  
He locked his one eye with Okurii's eyes. "So this TV show covered a lot of your personal shit. But something I couldn't help but notice was how Few Adult Alternians helped in your rebellion against the Empire." A tense moment of silence followed, followed immediately by, "So. I gotta ask. What happened to them all?"  
  
Okurii looked to Joey Claire, who gave her a "He asked you" look in return.   
  
Okurii frowned, glancing at Eyepatch Vantas specifically with a brief tilt of her head.   
  
Joey rolled her eyes.   
  
"Fine. My side of things is the simplest to explain," Joey shrugged. "Basically, anyone who didn't like that we were rebelling against the Empire and thought we ought to be knocked down a peg decided to throw themselves against us like we weren't wielding laser swords and transforming Megaships early on during the early days of the rebellion. We dealt with them about as expected, really. We ended up dealing with Reavers more than anything, I think, didn't we?"  
  
"Sounds right to me," Okurii nodded.   
  
"I'm not asking about those," Eyepatch Vantas said with a grumble. "I saw them on the TV show."  
  
"Just giving context," Joey said, eyeing the Alternian. "Let's call them Tier Four- because Four is Death in some cultures, after all."  
  
"Right," Eyepatch Vantas cracked a faint smirk.  
  
"Tier Three were the ones who needed a bit of a beatdown to convince they needed to stop supporting the Empire as it colapsed," Joey continued. "There was only a few cases that was needed, but they generally didn't get themselves killed. They tend to graduate down to Tier Twos, and they all generally decided to settle on their own isolated worlds without Stargates."  
  
"We keep them supplied with supplies when emergencies happen, but otherwise they're content to keep to themselves without causing trouble," Okurii said. "Tier Twos are, as Joey just helpfully said, the ones who decided to settle and isolate themselves. Not willing to cause trouble for a disposed empire, but not quite willing to join it either."  
  
"Tier Ones are the ones we were able to negotiate with," Joey said from there. "Okurii dealt with them the most. But they did help us out during the war and rebellion. They just kept their actions to a minimum until the right moments. Taking over ships and stopping fights before they could start, giving us supply routes and information bursts... of course, that wasn't until a few years in and we were dealing with a lot of massive cleanup operations across the whole galaxy."  
  
"Which the TV show wouldn't show us because you guys were all focused on the big fish situations," Eyepatch Vantas grunted. "But that still doesn't answer my question of where are they and what you've done with those Adults."  
  
"Tier Ones chose to settle worlds as well, but ones with Stargates, keeping connected to the network," Okurii explained. "A lot of them also man some of our exploration fleets, or are working to help undo damage to worlds they helped conquer."  
  
"I'd like to see some proof," Eyepatch Vantas said, "speak to some of these 'tier ones' personally."  
  
"That can be arranged," Okurii nodded.

* * *

 _ **_"KIRAMEI SEARCHING!!"_** _The Shiny Kiramei Changer cried out as Harry ran it through a test run. Immediately, it cried out, _**_"DISCOVERY!"_**_ and highlighted every signal on Diaspora originating from a Kiramei Stone with a projected hologram.  
  
Naturally, all of them were sitting right before Harry in that moment.  
  
"I'll have to try it at random somewhere else," Harry said, frowning. "That was almost too quick and easy."  
  
"Hopefully Doctor Kae gave it a good idle-search ringtone," Sally said, ears flinching slightly. "Otherwise that's going to get old quick."  
  
Speaking of musical alarms, Equius' changer sounded off then. "Ah, that's my cue. I've got filming to get to."  
  
"Good luck," Nepeta said as everyone gave him a wave or another greeting as he headed off, Jetta in tow.  
  
Harry waited for Equius to walk out of sight, before activating his Changer again.  
  
 ** __"KIRAMEI SEARCHING!"__** After a pause, _ **_"DISCOVERY!"**_ _ The resulting hologram showed Jetta's signal moving away from the group.  
  


* * *

  
"Soooo," Kurantula said as they gazed at a litany of Jamenshi masks spread out across the table before them. "You haven't said a word since we got back from meeting Lothor. Then you get up and dump the masks out and now we're... doing what exactly?"  
  
Garuza said nothing for a moment more, then, he growled. "I need to clear my head after encountering that masked bastard. I could sense his artifact, like the one granting me immortal life," Garuza clenched his right hand into a fist, and snarled. "And it's NOT a wish granting device."  
  
"So there's another artifact entirely, I guess?" Kurantula asked.  
  
"Yes," Garuza said. "Lord Gilgamesh likely keeps it on his person. I'd assume it's how he opened that time portal for the Attack on Atlantis."  
  
"So, this whole conversation was a recon mission to figure out who really had this Wish Granting Device?" Kurantula asked.  
  
"Essentially," Garuza nodded. "We'll need to play our cards close to our chest going forwards." He motioned towards a certain mask. "Take this and size it for a young Jamenju. We'll send it through with the Darkness Energy from Meteor Jamen. And then it will wait."  
  
"Wait for what?" Kurantula asked.  
  
"For your supposedly fail proof plan to fail," Garuza said coldly, and the Mofang man flinched in response.  
  


* * *

  
"There's one thing I have to ask," Ryujii suddenly spoke up as he watched a suited up Hiromu perform a training spar against a suited up Atsuya.  
  
"What's that?" Nepeta asked.  
  
"This Blaze guy," Ryujii's gaze was locked firmly on Hiromu's suit. "Why does his battle suit happen to look thematically similar to ours?"  
  
Nepeta frowned, and opened her KI to bring up the image of Blaze's combat suit. "Huh," she said. "It's really similar alright." Her frown deepened. "That's... kinda concerning, actually."  
  
"I wonder what the link is?" Ryujii pondered aloud.   
  


* * *

  
"This is Gog," The supposedly Fae girl in front of the camera, dressed in makeup to make her look like an Alternian raised up a white blaster with a dog head at the end of a chain attached to its grip. She kissed the dog's head. "And this is Magog." She lifted a black gun that looked much the same, kissing its hanging dog head chain the same. "And we're pretty good."  
  
Then, she ran forwards at a spring board beneath the camera's line of side, and leaped off of it, flipping forwards, and landing, aiming her weapons at the camera as little stunt lights in the barrels flashed with simulated effect.  
  
"AND CUT!" The Director called out, and the fake Iyo stood, holstering her prop weapons behind her back, smiling happily, and turning off towards the snack table.  
  
Equius watched her saunter that way from where he was standing as part of the scene that had just been filmed, and he frowned.  
  
A few minutes later, he was seated in his chair as the set was quickly reconfigured for different camera angles and a new scene, with Jetta hovering quietly within his bag out of sight.  
  
"That girl's gone in a really creepy direction the last few days, hasn't she?" Jetta asked, quietly so as to not be overheard.  
  
"Something's off," Equius agreed in a whisper. "I think she's someone else pretending to be Iyo. It's like she's never dropping character anymore."  
  
"Maybe it's easier to act like the girl in front of the camera both on and off than do two different roles, I guess," Jetta agreed. "Still, Aniki, what do we do about it? Where's the real Iyo-san?"  
  
"Who knows," Equius frowned. "I just hope she's not getting into trouble."

* * *

The Overdrive team were gathered at the dining table in the Egbert house while the others outside continued to talk about important stuff. But that wasn't important.  
  
What was important was having a late lunch of sorts.  
  
"Soooo! Did you hear the latest creepy internet rumor?" Vrissy asked.  
  
"What rumor?" Kanaya asked, grabbing a fork to dig into her salad with.  
  
"Apparently there's this hot new Pop Star whose music's hitting the Galactic Internet lately," Vrissy started explaining. "Yodomohime is her name! And apparently her music's really creepily good!"  
  
"Oh, I think I've heard of that," Sally said after swallowing a bite of her sandwich. "You can't view her videos or anything unless you're searching online for them with a praise for her at a certain time of night! If you try watching them at any other time of day, the videos just glitch out and don't do anything, or something like that."  
  
"Exactly!" Vrissy nodded. "They say she's a ghost!"  
  
"That sounds like, uh," Tavvy adjusted his glasses. "Pure nonsense, if you ask me. There's no way that sort of thing could even work, ghost or not."  
  
"Yeah," June agreed, "Grubtube and other video sites like that can't be accessed from specific times only. That's not how video websites work."  
  
"Well I say we try it tonight," Vrissy said. "We'll see who's laughing then!"  
  
"Nobody's laughing now?" Kanaya frowned.  
  
Vrissy hung her head. "Yeah. I know. I'm just... struggling with this whole Ranger Team thing, y'know?"  
  
The others all nodded.  
  
"It's not quite what any of us were expecting," Tavvy agreed.  
  
"Harry getting put on the Kiramagers is a little bit of a disappointment," Sally agreed. "But, I mean. He hasn't complained about the morpher not feeling right since he got it, so, I guess there's that? But still... My Bro's gotta do what My Bro's gotta do."  
  
"I know!" Vrissy said, poking at her lunch without much interest in eating it. "I was even gonna have Tomo fight him to try and convince him not to join their team, but... that didn't work out. I just wanted all of us to be able to fight together, y'know?"  
  
"That's a familiar feeling..." June looked out the nearby window, her lunch forgotten. "Y'know, Rose and me were hoping to get on a team together with Tomo, Harley, Equius, and Nepeta. Then we got split up to different teams." 

She frowned, watching as she saw Nepeta give some tackle lessons to Miko, who wasn't enjoying being caught in a tackle at the moment all that much.

"And then I was on my own team, and now I can't even really remember any of it." June looked back at her new team, suddenly. "You know what's worse? I can't even remember the last team hangout we did! Rose says we were doing Motocross or biking or something weird like that, but I can't remember any of it at all! Just, whole weeks of my life- POOF! Gone. In an instant. Like they weren't even there. So I've got that same feeling twice over right now and it's DUMB because I can't even remember half of the reason why I'm feeling that way!"  
  
Kanaya put a hand on June's shoulder, and gave a small squeeze. "It'll be okay. We'll figure out how to fix it eventually."  
  
"But what if we Can't!?" June asked. "What if they're just GONE out of my memories for the rest of time?"  
  
There was a long pause, and then Sally spoke up, "There's always Time Travel, I guess?"  
  


* * *

  
"So, I've been thinking," Hector started. "You need a plan for when you can take Jouki for good, right?"  
  
Atsuya nodded, "it's a big pain that we can't just take him permanently. Garuza broke him out of our control the last two times after we beat the monster."  
  
"I see," Hector considered it for a moment. "Well. What if... Once you establish Control over Jouki and Combine into Ghost Express again... why don't you just... try and shake Garuza out?"  
  
Atsuya blinked. "Like... We send two people into Express, and during the combination, one of them sneaks into Jouki to fight Garuza and kick him out?"  
  
"There's that," Hector said, "Or... Or. What if. Just hear me out because this is kinda crazy..." he held out his right arm- the arm Jouki's head and cockpit were on Ghost Express- "What if you just sorta reached out and..." He shook his arm sharply Once, Twice, thrice. "Shook him out?"  
  
"Literally just shake him out?" Atsuya considered it. "...But what if he can try forcing the combination to break from outside?"  
  
"Once you've got Garuza out, he might try that, sure," Hector started. "But. Mashin Express has that ludicrously OP Hyperdrive onboard, right? Why not as soon as the battle's over... Hyperdrive out of there and take Jouki out of Garuza's reach before he can do anything?"  
  
Atsuya thought on it for another moment. "That might actually work!"  
  
Hector nods. "It's definitely something worth trying!"  
  


* * *

  
Terezi Pyrope entered a small clearing where two robots sat around a small campfire.  
  
Beet J. Stag looked up, and said, "Ah. Finally. The first face we've seen in days."  
  
Terezi laughed. "Sorry, wish I could say the same, but I'm Blind."  
  
"Are you lost as well, then?" Mei asked.  
  
Terezi laughed once more. "Nope. I'm exactly where I need to be." She walked over next to them, decaptchalogued a chair, and sat down. "Let's talk shop. And more specifically, food." She decaptchalogued a pair of silver, unmarked soda cans, and handed them over.   
  
J took his can, opened it and peered inside. "Enetron?"  
  
"If that's what you wanna call it, sure," Terezi smirked. "Me? I just followed the instructions that popped up in my head and sealed it in a can."  
  
"Are you some kind of psychic?" J asked.   
  
"I am," Terezi said. "A Seer, of things that can be, could be, would be, and have been. But, well. That's what's brought me here. I came to recruit you two."  
  
"Recruit us?" Mei asked. "For what?"  
  
"Have you ever heard of Power Rangers?" Terezi asked.  
  
J considered it for a moment, sipped at the can of 'Enetron', then countered, "Have you heard of the Tokumei Sentai: Go-Busters?"  
  
Terezi's grin grew wide. "Let's trade stories, shall we?"   
  
The Crystalian themed Robot known as Mei sat and watched them converse before opening her own can and hesitantly taking a sip from it.  
  


* * *

  
 **EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 23RD, 2012.**  
  
Inside the corrupted, flooded SGC, Kurantula laughed like a maniac. "It's almost time! My Super Secret Project is almost ready to launch its career to new heights!"  
  
Garuza scoffed. "We'll see if it actually works or not."  
  


* * *

  
Hiromu, Ryujii, and Youko arrived in the empty Ranger Classroom amidst a bustling amount of hallway traffic outside.   
  
"You needed us, Doctor Kae?" Hiromu asked as they approached the desk at the center-front of the room.  
  
"Yes," Gina Kae was waiting there along with the grinning Seer, Terezi Pyrope. "Seer Pyrope has found us your fourth and fifth rangers. Beyond that, there's one other thing that needs discussing as the City prepares for takeoff."  
  
"Really?" Youko asked. "Who are our new rangers?"  
  
"We'll get to that in a minute, once Mister Anderson..." Gina trailed off as Harry arrived. "Ah, speak of the Silver Ranger, and he shall arrive. Good timing."  
  
"I'm here," Harry said, arriving to join the team there. "What's the emergency?"  
  
"We found a couple of fragments of one of the Kiramei Stones that Blaze Stole, thanks to a vision Seer Pyrope had," GIna explained.   
  
"They're buried deep in the cores of your new Rangers!" Terezi grinned, not even looking at the Go-Busters. "Practically merged with everything! Can't extract, and wouldn't want to anyways."  
  
"So once this meeting's over-?" Harry let Doctor Kae finish:  
  
"You'll be heading to the world in question and trying to locate any more Kiramei Stone fragments that may be lying around," and finish the open ended statement Gina Kae did.  
  
"Alright," Harry nodded.  
  
"So... Where's our new teammates?" Ryujii asked.  
  
"Yo! Crystals!" Terezi barked out. "You can come in now!"  
  
From a side door, in walked the two robotic forms of Beet J. Stag and the crystalian looking Mei.   
  
Needless to say there was shocked silence from the Rangers at their appearances for a long moment, before Harry turned to Gina and asked, "So when you say 'fragments' of the Kiramei stone--?"  
  
"We mean that it seems Enter attempted to try to convert a Kiramei stone and a metalized beetle into Metadroids," J spoke. "And that process failed due to an inherent failure in the process that resulted in Mei's formation, and my apparent copying into this world, given your own lack of recognition towards me."  
  
"...Enter?" Youko asked. "Who's...?"  
  
"Copy...?" Hiromu started instead, at the same time.   
  
"Obviously Blaze wasn't that man's real name," Gina said. "Mister Stag here, however, recognized the combat suit he's been parading around in."  
  


* * *

  
"So, let me get this straight," Rodney Mckay started, "mister bronze and silver in there?" He jabs his thumb over his shoulder at a screen showing the feed from observation camera pointed at the Ranger Classroom. "Has memories of another world that evidently got coppied into our dimension when 'Blaze' attempted to turn a Kiramei Stone into one of his little battle robots and it backfired on him making those two? And THAT probably lead to him trying to turn that artifact crystal from Old Athos into a robot of its own, because it'd be an entire order of magnitude less explosive?"   
  
"That's about the sum of it, yeah," John Sheppard gazed at the screen, watching as "J" no doubt was launching into his own explanation.  
  
"Okay, great. So what have we learned?" Rodney asked.   
  
The conference room was empty save for him, John, Teyla, and Ronon, and it was Teyla who spoke up, reading from a report.  
  
"Apparently an alternate Earth in another dimension discovered a form of energy called 'Enetron' that could be mined from the ground and refined into a liquid fuel," Teyla said, turning a page. "From there, an energy management firm was developed to maintain it, and they built giant robots to maintain the tanks they'd built- called 'Megazords.'"  
  
"Well that's just uncanny," Rodney said with a roll of his eyes.  
  
"Indeed it is," Teyla agreed. "Most of these Megazords were single robots, couldn't combine... Oh. A Computer Virus called 'Messiah' became partially sentient, and invaded a Teleportation Research Facility on Christmas Day of the Year 1999."  
  
"That doesn't sound good," Ronon said.  
  
"The researchers had three children in the facility that they then teleported outside after giving them a Vaccine Program injection-" Teyla stopped, reread the line, and shook her head. "I have no idea what that means, or how a computer program anti-virus could be injected into a living human body, but whatever."  
  
"Sounds like perfect origin story stuff," Rodney scoffed. "Let me guess, they blew up the facility and the virus escaped?"  
  
"No," Teyla said, "our robotic friend in there reported that the Researchers trapped inside decided to teleport the entire facility into a subdimension, sealing the Virus away, and themselves with it."  
  
"Called it," Ronon said, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes.  
  
"Well, that's a bit harsh," John said, turning to look at Teyla. "What happened next?"  
  
"Thirteen years later, in the year-" Teyla stopped, and chuckled, "2012, how about that."  
  
"Lucky timing," Rodney grunted.  
  
"The Energy Management company began reporting Enetron Spikes that were the result of an enemy called 'Varglass' tapping into the power grid and siphoning it away," Teyla read the report further. "They recruited the three surviving children and trained them to fight these enemies, calling them 'Go Busters' as a codename."  
  
"Hiromu, Ryujii, and Youko, right?" John asked.  
  
"Down to the surnames," Teyla answered, "though the spellings are slightly different given transliteration from Japanese to English being different from the transliterations from Goa'uld, Alternian, and Fae to English."  
  
"Parallel Universe Twinning isn't a new concept," Rodney said, taking a seat. "But the way we're treating this like Blaze is actually this Enter guy reborn or something... I'm guessing there's something we're missing here?"  
  
"The 'Avatar' known as 'Enter' seemed to be the primary antagonist to this other worlds' Go-Busters," Teyla read off the report. "Creating Monsters via Metaviruses, hatching plans to steal Enetron... building a lasting rivalry with the team that lasted beyond the eventual defeat of his master, Messiah at the hands of..." She stopped. "Oh, that's interesting. Mister 'Jueki' in there appears to have been a Ranger himself- The Silver Ranger, specifically, 'Stag Buster.' His partner, Jin Masato was the Gold Ranger, 'Beet Buster,' and... was an Avatar of a survivor of the teleport from thirteen years earlier."  
  
"So they did the usual Ranger thing, got Zords, battled giant monsters, etcetera," Rodney said. "They beat him, didn't they?"  
  
Teyla sighed, and looked at Rodney with a 'Do you want to read this yourself?' look as she tapped a finger against the rather hefty looking stack of papers she was reading through.

Rodney wisely said, "Ah. continue."  
  
Teyla smiled, and glanced through the papers more before frowning, and reread a section. "Apparently Enter had backups of Messiah after his defeat that he used to attempt to restore him to full status. Thirteen cards, to be precise, containing Messiah's data. One of which he stashed away into the Red Ranger without their knowing, and two of which he absorbed into himself- one containing a fragment of Teleportation Data of Jin Masato himself from the teleportation incident. As long as that backup card inside of the Red Ranger was left intact, Enter could continually restore himself from backup every time he was destroyed. More than that, Enter was able to steal a version of the Go-Busters' morphing powers, giving him a battle suit identical to the one we've encountered with Blaze."

As Teyla trailed off to read onto the next page, a horrified look began growing on her face, and silence fell in the room. It was Ronon who spoke up first to break it:

"So, Magic Cards containing Data of dead people allowing them to revive again seems a bit too relevant to be a coincidence."  
  
"The Go-Busters traveled to the subdimension, and used the remains of Jin Masato's real body as a filter to attempt to siphon out the backup card data from the Red Ranger during a transport," Teyla read on. "They attempted the process, and it succeded, destroying the card and the backup of Enter. They then destroyed the active instance, resulting in a colapse of the Subdimension that resulted in golden tears in space time appearing, one of which appeared circular and swirling in nature, sucking in data from the colapsing Subdimension as the Go-Busters fled for their portal home. As they escaped-" Telya scowled. "They saw a spaceship exiting through a swirling portal of golden light." Then, she flipped a page and showed it to all of them. "Jueki printed a screenshot directly from his memory."  
  
"Gilgamesh," John said with all the force of a particularly annoyed swear as he saw the image of a certain transformed Wraith Hiveship sitting before him.  
  
"Oh My God," Rodney stared at the image. "All the dimensional warping over Earth because of the ZPM overload on the Banshee- it must have let Gilgamesh access all kinds of other dimensional places adjacent to Earth in other realities, including parallel time planes."  
  
"Including this Subdimension," Teyla agreed. "No wonder Gilgamesh is holding Earth as his base of operations. The distortions in the space around the planet must be allowing them access to countless other world-lines beyond our own."  
  
"It's like what happened with Damara only on a smaller scale," John grimaced.   
  
"If Gilgamesh used the Spirit Card tech the other Jade encountered in Pegasus' past," Rodney realized, "he could have easily scraped up Enter's data and reformated him into a new backup-" he snapped his fingers on his right hand. "The Card we saw in his heart on the scans."  
  
"Not a coincidence after all," John grimaced... And then his radio buzzed. "This is Sheppard," he replied.  
  
 _"John, is Mckay there with you still?"_ Keiko's voice came through. _"His Radio's off."_  
  
"Yeah, he's here," John looked to Rodney, who got on his radio.  
  
"Sorry, forgot to turn it on," he apologized. "What's the problem?"  
  
 _"We just got a message from the Beltus,"_ Keiko answered. _"Something happened on Earth C over night to the Overdrive team."_  
  
John frowned, and asked, "Is June alright?"  
  
 _"She's okay, but she and Kanaya were the ones who reported it to Okurii,"_ Keiko said.  
  
"Let me guess," Rodney frowned, "it's got something to do with our Card problem?"  
  
 _"Yeah. It does,"_ Keiko answered.  
  
"Well That's not a coincidence either," Rodney said tiredly.  
  
"No, it's not," John frowned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Kanaema Stones are at the same time something I've been annoyed with by their introduction and yet applauding at the same time. So many issues I'd been conceiving with the plot suddenly started to make sense with the recent introduction of the Second of the Four Stones. (If you've been watching Kiramager proper, no spoilers pls!)  
> \---  
> What about the Adult Trolls who aided the Rebellion?
> 
> That was a question I was asked a lot during the initial run of the SG:Alternia chapters. Unfortunately I never really got much of a chance to show any of them working with the Rebellion. The story's pacing just didn't leave much room for it, much as it didn't leave much room to focus on random side teams exploring the galaxy. And after the rebellion ended and the Empire was dismantled, well, where did they all go? Here's an explanation that I needed to put in a lot sooner, but, again, never did because of time.  
> \---  
> Everyone's starting to put pieces of the puzzle together here, though they're not sharing information across sides. If the Kiramagers knew at this point what Garuza was suspecting... 
> 
> Well, meanwhile they're starting to piece together that SOMETHING weird is up with Enter/Blaze. And heeeyyy. Lookie there, J's being recruited into things to nudge that along. People are now being informed of the plot critical information from Go-Busters, and we're finally answering the question of whether or not this Enter was an Expy of himself...
> 
> The answer is no. He's really Enter. He's REALLY Enter. OH GOD EVERYONE PANIC!!!
> 
> ...Just Kidding. (Or am I?)
> 
> But no seriously, this is extremely bad news for everyone. Unlike the other cloned Power Rangers generals in Gilgamesh's employ, Enter was the real deal final villain of his series and he's just been quietly playing the long game since he got recruited. 
> 
> Go-Busters went about as seen in the show up until the last moment- where Gilgamesh, at the beginning of this new series of events, was traveling between the warped space dimensions of the area over Earth, allowing him access to other worlds and dimensions, including the collapsing Subdimension in Go-Busters. Enter was literally scraped up as free floating data.
> 
> ...And now the shits are about to REALLY hit the fan in the most realest way possible in the next chapter:
> 
> MSK: 01X11: My music will cut through your heart! "Please love me, Senpai!" (Say no to Stalkers, Kids!)
> 
> ...Remember how I said the theme of this act was Panic? ...You're about to see the beginnings of *why.* :P


	9. MSK: 01X11: My music will cut through your heart! "Please love me, Senpai!" (Say no to Stalkers, Kids!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the panic button is not so much pressed, as it is smashed with a sledge hammer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Eating someone elses food,  
> The "Hit an object on someone's head" stunt,  
> Stalking,  
> Unauthorized Body Doubles,  
> Manipulative Situations,  
> Magic Comas,  
> Vaguely Depression Themed Song Lyrics,  
> Split Screen Battle,  
> Implied Intent to Bisect a Living Being,  
> Picture Embedding and Linkage.

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 23RD, 2012.**  
  
Equius stood in the Zord Bay onboard the Beltus, suited up, kneeling before Jetta, using the Sub-in to look like Equius as he held a rather long raddish like vegetable called a daikon atop his head. Standing nearby were Tomo And Harley, looking a mite concerned about being told to stand so close to what was sure to be a sword technique demonstration.  
  
"Don't move, any of you," Equius begged, reaching his hand down for his sword, held at his side. His suit sparkled and shined strangely, reflecting not the lighting of the Zord Bay, but instead the sheer potential of his own inner Kiramental.  
  
He 'drew' his sword from the hand holding it, and readied it by his left shoulder.   
  
Without tapping a button or changing a thing, the sparkles around his suit suddenly flowed together into a sharpened blade, and extended upwards and upwards with a cry of _**_"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"_**_  
  
Equius then stood suddenly and slashed outwards with his extended blade.  
  
 _ **_"CHECK-"_** _The Blade slashed through the root vegetable with ease _ **_"-MAGE!"_** _and then exploded into dismissed particles of light before it could even touch Tomo or Harley, who both flinched away from the light as it approached them.  
  
For a moment, everyone stood there in shock, then Equius celebrated with an exuberant "Alright!"  
  
"Woah! Aniki!" Jetta cried out, examining both halves of the chopped up food item.  
  
"You did what we did back in Aunt Claire's yard!" Harley realized. "Activated the sword without touching it!"  
  
"Exactly," Equius nodded. "After seeing Kiramei Stones transform based on imagination and intent, and knowing that the swords previously recated strangely, I figured I could create a specific technique and have the Kiramei Stone within the sword handle the rest." Equius tapped his blade's flat edge with the side of his hand. "I imagined it became long enough to slice the daikon, then shatter before it could hurt anyone else." He added, "As well, I made sure the blade would not do any damage to the surrounding environment. Techniques such as this should reduce and collateral damage from my sword strikes to a minimum when I partner with Jetta again."  
  
"Like with the Meteor Jamen," Tomo nodded- flashing back to a revisit to the observatory to spot some strike marks along some buildings. "I noticed after the fight that when you slashed through some of those meteors, your sword stike managed to graze some of the building's walls."  
  
"Exactly," Equius said. "With further practice and refinement, we should be able to create Dynamic attacks in Kiramagein as well that don't damage anything but the Jamenju." He paused, "Or, perhaps could damage something very specific within a targeted radius without damaging anything else."  
  
"Like Jouki, yeah?" Harley asked.  
  
Equius nodded, "Garuza, specifically. If we could land a solid blow against Jouki's head that doesn't damage him, but does damage Garuza inside..."  
  
His morpher chimed then, and he spun it- _"Yo!"_ Harry's voice came through the line. _"Your food delivery's here in the lounge."_  
  
Equius rushed away immediately, demorphing, and the others followed him, astonished to hear him start going on about the marvels of a "Salsiccia Hot Dog Cheddar SP" whatever the heck that was.  
  
Well, Harley could figure out it was a Hot Dog from the way he was going on about it.  
  
They arrived in the Lounge just as Harry was departing, saying, "Sorry, I gotta jet. Doctor Kae asked me to visit the Classroom before the City Took off for some reason. Be back later! Also-" He paused quickly, and fired off a double thumbs up to Equius. "That's one Delicious order, Okimaw."  
  
"Later," Tomo and Jetta waved their sixth ranger off as Equius zeroed in on a plate with a wrapped hotdog resting on it, still steaming fresh and looking rather delicious from the visible ends.  
  
"Cheddar..." Equius salvated, then went to unwrap his hotdog with a "It's time to ea-"  
  
He stopped.  
  
The middle of the hotdog was missing.  
  
There was only the two ends left that had been exposed by the wrapper.  
  
The Hotdog had CLEARLY been eaten straight out of the middle.  
  
 _ **"WWWWHAT THE HELL!?"**_ Equius shouted with rumbling anger.  
  
Tomo, Harley, and Jetta looked over his shoulders, and they gasped, realizing exactly what had happened.  
  
"Harry snuck a bite, didn't he?" Jetta asked.  
  
"More than a bite, I'd say," Tomo pointed out just how much of it was missing.   
  
"Salsiccia!" Equius collapsed to his knees.  
  


* * *

  
Inside the corrupted, flooded SGC, Kurantula laughed like a maniac. "It's almost time! My Super Secret Project is almost ready to launch its career to new heights!"  
  
Garuza scoffed. "We'll see if it actually works or not."  
  
"HAH!" Kurantula turned to face him, "Of course it'll work! It's MY Long Term Plan! The Kiramagers haven't noticed at all yet! They won't know what Hit Them when they hear this Swan Song of their pitifully short careers!"   
  
"You seem particularly vengeful today," Garuza observed.   
  
"Of course I am!" Kurantula snapped. "You said my plan'll fail! And I don't think it will at all! This is going to be our sweetest victory! There'll be no other triumph for them! We'll win it all Today! And never have to deal with the Kiramagers AGAIN!"  
  
"Maybe I should let you make more plans on your own if you're going to be so enthusiastic," Garuza said. "I almost didn't think you had a ruthless bone in your body."  
  
"I'm a Mofang who survived the colapse of the Sorian Empire at the hands of an Emperor-Tyrant-King who thought it would be a GREAT idea to mind control his people and BLOW UP STARS!" Kurantula countered. "I was there at Karfin Outpost, you know! I was lucky to survive! I have my ruthless bones, but I'd rather not use them unless I absolutely need to. It helps keep me under the radar. Just like this Jamenshi! None of their precious Seers have predicted what we're doing. Nobody's raised a finger to stop it! So! How's about THAT, Huh, Garuza!? None of YOUR plans have gotten that far, have they!?"  
  
"I see," Garuza said. "You do raise a good point." He glanced up at the signal monitor tracking their active Jamenshi and Jamenju Beasts. "...Why haven't they done anything yet?"

* * *

**"When people Shine, Miracles are Born!" Esprez Narrated.**

**"Kiramental- the proof of Warriors who can change the future!"**

**"KIRAMEI, GO!!!!" The voice on the Morphers exclaimed.**

[ **MASHIN SENTAI: KIRAMAGER** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffuDLZEVUnY)

* * *

"Sorry!" Atsuya clapped his hands together infront of his face as he bowed sharply. "My parents need me to help clean up after the Monstone rampage the other day."  
  
"It's okay," Nepeta said. "Can you come later if we need to fight?"  
  
Atsuya nodded. "They'll let me go if its an emergency, but since Class got canceled for the rest of this week..."  
  
"I hear ya," Nepeta nods. "it can be-"  
  
"Atsuya! Quit chatting already!" a woman's voice called out from deeper in the village.  
  
"Coming, Mom!" Atsuya called back, then smiled apologetically to Nepeta. "Sorry. I gotta go."  
  
"Good luck with the clean up!" Nepeta smiled at him.   
  
"Thanks," he said.  
  
Nepeta gave him a kiss on the cheek before he absconded off to deal with the aforementioned cleanup, then Nepeta took a breath, exhaled with a sigh, and then turned back to New Athos' Stargate.   
  
"Well, hopefully nothing major'll come up today!" she said, happily.  
  
Then her Morpher chimed off with an alarm.  
  
She sighed. "Me and my big mouth." She swiped the wheel of her morpher, and looked at the message, and then swore something fierce.   
  


* * *

  
Nepeta arrived in the Beltus' infirmary at about the same time Harry arrived, to find June and Kanaya waiting, nervously, while the other three Overdrives were clearly unconscious, lying in beds.  
  
The other Kiramagers, save Atsuya, were present as well, with Tomo specifically gazing at a cerulean colored Laptop marked with the Scorpio Sign on the back of its lid. Vrissy's laptop, no doubt.  
  
"What happened?" Harry asked.  
  
"We were supposed to meet up today for training," Kanaya explained. "But when Sally, Vrissy, and Tavvy failed to show up... We got worried and went to check on them."  
  
"They had a sleepover last night at Tavvy's place," June took it from there, "and Tavvy's dad thought they were just sleeping in after staying up late, so he didn't wake them up when he saw them sleeping infront of a laptop. We couldn't wake them up at all when we tried."  
  
"According to the laptop's search history, they were looking up a new internet pop-idol," Tomo said. "Yodomihime."

They turned the laptop around for everyone [to see an image of a goth dressed girl](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei11-iyo.png) sort of frozen within a frame of static.   
  
Tomo explained: "They claim she's actually dead and is a ghost who comes back to make videos as specific times every night. Creepy gimmick if you ask me."

"We were talking about it the other day," June nodded. "We were all pretty sure it was a hoax and the internet doesn't work that way, but..."  
  
"When we tried during the day yesterday, we found the videos exactly like that," Kanaya motioned at the screen. "Static, Frozen, Looping. No Audio. We figured they just were doing live streams and otherwise every video they uploaded was just like that."  
  
"I thought we were going to give it up, but I guess Vrissy wanted to check It at the stated time," June sighed.  
  
Tomo explained, "If you search using a phrase that praises Yodomihime and it works during the time of 2:00 to 2:30 A.M., you can see her sing properly. Supposedly it's a 1 to 20,000 chance. To think something like this would cause people to collapse..."   
  
"They're not the only ones affected, Unfortunately," In walked Marsti Houtek, and Nepeta smiled at one of her Mother's presence. "We've been getting reports in from all over Earth C as well as various other worlds, Catherine, Diaspora, Lopan..." She shook her head. "It's the same thing over and over again. People who were fans of Yodomihime were found unconscious after last nights 'performance.'"  
  
"Just like a Ghost..." Harley whined, her ears flattening against her skull.  
  
"Do we know who the identity of this girl is?" Harry asked.  
  
"Not a Ghost," Marsti took out some X-rays and plastered them to a light box that she turned on. "These are their ribcages. See these anomalies by their hearts?"  
Rectangular shapes that shouldn't be there. Looking almost like...  
  
"Cards?" Nepeta asked.  
  
"Damn it," Harry swore. "Is this one of Enter's games, or Gilgamesh's?"  
  
"No way to know at the moment," Marsti shook her head. "Not until we get our hands on one of the cards or some actual video footage."  
  
That's when their Beltus' intercom buzzed, and Okurii spoke through it, _"We've got something you're going to want to see, everyone. It's about the Coma cases. Meet in the lounge."_  
  
As everyone left the room to head that way, Equius stayed behind, as Jetta decaptchalogued from his Morpher and hovered over to the abandoned laptop screen in his gemstone form to get a better look at the girl- then gasped. "Aniki! Isn't this-!?"  
  
Equius went over to the screen and gazed on, and then took in a sharp breath as the glitchy video gave him a good look at the singer's face.  
  
"It is." Equius confirmed. "It's Iyo-chan."  
  


* * *

  
"This is a video recorded by Xefros and Salazl's kid, Sollux," Okurii said, bringing a webpage up on screen in the Kiramager's lounge room. "He had a self imposed bedtime to meet so he couldn't stay up to watch the stream personally, so what he did was set up a web-bot to search for the key phrases at the specific times and would record the footage that resulted. We've run it through a filter to take out subliminal messaging, so it's safe to watch."  
  
And then she played the video, with the girl walking into screen, and speaking, _"Foolish Sheep, my song will make you rest in peace._ "  
  
She was indeed Iyo-chan for anyone who'd seen her. Harley and Tomo seemed vaguely concerned with how familiar she seemed. Equius and Jetta just gazed on with growing horror.  
  
Iyo was dressed in a mostly black outfit with lots of red highlights. It was very goth looking- and most disturbingly, her normally pink hair was dyed pitch black. She looked nothing like the Iyo-chan they'd been working with before, let alone the girl who'd been acting strangely since that one day.  
  
The song that played was an absurdly creepy one about abandoning everything, homes, friends, school, society, country, planet... It claimed the future was pitch black, and all sorts of other hopeless, desperate things.  
  
The video paused then, and Okurii continued, "This is the point our systems detected subliminal filtering to attempt to mind control the people who watched it. Hypnosis, essentially. This primed them for the following bit."  
  
The video resumed, and a glitchy looking Iyo stated, "Now, my foolish sheep-" She held up a card- an invitation it looked like at first glance. "Here are tickets to my live show." Her eyes flashed yellow as she threw the card at the screen where it seemed to glitch out of existence.

There was a brief flash of something overlaid on top of Iyo's face-[ a mask of some kind that looked like a musical note.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei11-troubleclef1.png) A male voice said, "Don't miss it." And then the video ended.

"We've also had the Rescuers examine the raw data Sollux recorded," Okurii said. "Apparently there was a dimensional transferrence that occurred during the card dispesal." She held up an invitation-ticket just like the one that had been seen in the video. "Xefros found this lodged into the back of Sollux's desk chair when he woke up this morning, which tipped him off that something was off."  
  
"That mark..." Harley gazed at the specific symbol on the ticket. "It's the one on the Bechat Masks!"  
  
"Garuza," Nepeta snarled.   
  
"So those cards we're seeing in their hearts are tickets, huh?" Marsti gazed at the thing. "Now just what do they expect to do with those?"  
  
"So, this Yodomihime is a Jamenshi?" Harry asked.  
  
"No," Equius said. "But she might be under their control, though."  
  
And so he explained the strange happenings on set.  
  


* * *

  
 _"Alright,"_ Okurii's voice echoed in narration as Harley and Tomo went onto the studio lot. _"You'll split up to investigate. Harley and Tomo- I want you two to go to the studio and speak to Iyo. See what she knows. Harry, you'll investigate her trailer while the others are talking to her."_  
  
Harry broke into Iyo's trailer through a back window, and gazed inside, frowning.  
  
 _"Meanwhile,"_ Equius and Nepeta headed down a side street, following a map on their changers. Heliko followed behind them, appearing like Nepeta via Sub-in, as she held Jetta in arm. _"Equius, Nepeta- you two will go to Iyo's apartment. See what you can find there."_  
  
 _"What about the rest of us?"_ June's voice asked as she and Kanaya worked at laptops, sometime later, searching for stage venues.   
  
_"I'm going to ask you two to see if you can find the venue of this 'live show,'"_ Okurii said. _"If we can find it before the Jamenshi can use it, that's our best bet towards stopping this."_  
  
Kanaya looked up from her work suddenly, and snapped her fingers to get June's attention, mouthing June's name silently to us viewers, even though she said it in reality.  
  


* * *

  
"Kodera, Iyo," Nepeta mused, "Fae, born Leprechaun on Alfheim... Moved to Diaspora six years ago."  
  
"And the girl who Jetta accidentally gave the impression I was interested in," Equius grimaced. "I set her straight on it at Harley's advice, but... Now I'm worried that pushed her straight into the Jamenshi's hands."  
  
"I'm sorry, Aniki," Jetta said, held in Heliko's hands as she used the sub-in to double as Nepeta. "So, so sorry. It's all my fault."  
  
"I'm sure it isn't," Heliko said. "She might have been targeted anyways."  
  
"That doesn't make it any better!" Jetta complained, wobbling within her grasp.  
  
"...Are we sure this is the right address?" Nepeta asked as they arrived as a cheaply built apartment building from Diaspora's first settlement. The place had seen better days, and most other early-design buildings of this nature had been replaced with better ones over the years, but this place was a relic of those earlier days.   
  
"It's what the studio had down for her," Equius frowned. "But it's..." He frowned. "No, this doesn't seem quite right."  
  
They heard a trash can rattle and a thunderous noise from upstairs, and the four of them looked up that way.  
  
"Apartment 203?" Nepeta asked.  
  
"The door's cracked open," Equius nodded.  
  
"We'll keep an eye out down here," Heliko volunteered.  
  
Nepeta nodded.  
  


* * *

  
"Excuse us, Iyo Kodera?" Harley started, approaching the girl sitting back on her actor's chair, and reading from the script.  
  
"That's me," The supposedly Fae girl answered, not looking away from the script. "What do you want?"  
  
"We're investigating a series of recent comas from last night," Tomo said. "The culprit was an online superstar who we believe is misappropriating your face somehow."  
  
The girl froze, and turned her head towards them in an oddly robotic way. "Did she now?"  
  


* * *

  
Equius and Nepeta entered the apartment, and stopped cold in their tracks as they saw Ennard Terrance digging through Iyo's things for what was no doubt the hundredth time, complaining about the girl's absence and disappearance to himself until he noticed their presence and stopped.  
  
All three of them turned to look at each other.  
  
"...Ah," of course, Ennard Terrance, the acting talent recruiter on the film, was really Enter in his default, non disguised appearance. "Bonjour, Equius-kun," he greeted. "To what do we owe the surprise?"  
  
"Ennard," Equius started, drawing his sword. "Answer me honestly."  
  
"Alright," Enter said, eyeing the sword cautiously. "What's your question."  
  
"Are you a Jamenshi, and if so, what have you done to Iyo-san?" Equius demanded.  
  
Enter stared for a moment, then he started to laugh.  
  


* * *

  
"Be Free, Lumber Trees!!" a normal human-scale truck-sized Mashin Carry cried out as several fallen tree trunks rolled down off of her bed into the lumber area.   
  
"Good job, Carry!" Atsuya appraised the young Mashin.  
  
"Thanks, Papa!" Carry cried out in return, then drove off towards where more fallen trees were to be collected.  
  
"Ah, to think I'd be a grandmother at this age," Atsuya's Mother said, placing a hand on her son's shoulder.   
  
Atsuya coughed, and sputtered out a "It's not like that, I swear!"  
  
His mother laughed. "I know, I know. But Can't I tease my own son for expanding the family so brilliantly? Hehe... She sure shines, that Granddaughter of mine!"  
  
Atsuya had no idea how to respond to a statement like that, but thankfully, he was saved by his Morpher chiming with a call alarm.   
  
Atsuya looked towards his Mother, who gave him a nod and said, "See if it's important."  
  
Atsuya spun his Morpher wheel. "This is Atsuya."  
  


* * *

  
"Atsuya, this is Harry," Harry said as he gazed at the torn up remnants of a stalker shrine that had been thoroughly replaced with one of another nature. "You know these things better than I do. But... do you know who this man is?" He sent a picture.  
  


* * *

  
Atsuya brought up the hologram, and winced. His mother, gazing over his shoulder at the screen, hooted, "Oh my! That's one fancy little love shrine!"  
  
"That's, uh," Atsuya struggled to remember the name for a moment. "Ennard Terrance, I think? He's the talent agent for the movie Equius is working on."  
  


* * *

  
Harry did a double take. "Did you say _EN-_ nard _TER-_ rance?" he stressed the syllables.  
  
 _"I did,"_ Atsuya answered.  
  
"Oh for crying out loud," Harry snatched a photo of the man he recognized as ENTER- the Avatar from J's version of Earth- off of the shrine. "How long has That one been staring us in the face!?"  
  


* * *

  
"A Jamenshi?" the false Iyo asked, tilting her head. "No, I can't say I've ever encountered one. Are they any good?"  
  
"...Good?" Tomo asked, frowning. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
"I mean, good in a fight," the false Iyo clarified. "If one's stealing my face, I'd like to fight them." The smile she gave was creepy and offputting, and Harley shuddered seeing it.  
  
Then, Harley's Morpher sang with an alarm. "Excuse me a moment," she said.  
  


* * *

  
Nepeta's morpher chimed off, and Enter just smirked, saying, "You should answer that, Pink Kiramager."  
  
Nepeta frowned, and struck at the wheel. "This is Nepeta," she said.  
  
 _"Nepeta,"_ Atsuya started. _"Harry just discovered something!"_  
  


* * *

  
 _"This is Harley."_  
  
"Harley," Harry said into his morpher. "I think the Iyo-chan you're talking to is a Fake! She's an Avatar created By Enter- Blaze! The Guy who stole the Kiramei Stones!"  
  


* * *

  
Harley turned towards the girl still talking to Tomo, and a look of horror formed in her eyes.  
  


* * *

  
"Ah," Nepeta said quietly as she locked eyes with Enter. "Thanks for the heads up, Atsuya. But... that warning could have come a little bit sooner."  
  
"I'll give you a chance to suit up if you give me the same," Enter said with a casual shift of his stance into a battle ready one.  
  
"Fine!" Equius readied his Morpher, and Nepeta did the same with a hastily said:  
  
"Sorry, I'll have to call you back, Atsuya."  
  


* * *

  
Heliko and Jetta looked up in shock as three voices shouted out- _ **"KIRAMEI CHANGE!"**_ and **_"LET'S MORPHIN'!"_**  
  
Then, there was an explosion, and Kiramei Blue and Pink went flying out of the apartment's door as the suited up Enter dove after them.  
  


* * *

  
"Ah," The fake Iyo said as Harley drew out her Blaster. Tomo quickly fell back to Harley's side. "So you caught on? A shame. I was having fun!" She giggled, and her form rippled then-[ gathering a suit of purple armor upon her body](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/powerrangers/images/3/3c/Buster-escape.png/revision/latest?cb=20190302064126)\- and she lifted up her twin guns. "This is Gog," she held up the right handed gun, "this is Magog," she held up the left handed gun. "I am Escape, and I am pretty good."  
  
And then she opened fire on Tomo and Harley, who dove to opposite sides with a synchronized cry of **_"KIRAMEI CHANGE!!"_**  
  


* * *

  
Equius and Enter clashed blades- and Enter laughed. "To answer your question, Blue Kiramager. No. I am not a Jamenshi. And I have no idea where our dear Iyo-chan even is! She's frustratingly gone missing on me as well!"   
  
"Then you've got nothing to do with the comas?!" Equius demanded- then broke free of the clash of blades so that Nepeta could fire on the rogue Varglass Avatar.  
Enter vanished in a flash of cheetah like speed, dodging the blasts, laughing the entire time, "Non non non! What a pain that's going to be to clean up, Iyo-chan siding with a Jamenshi like that!"  
  
He drew his sword and rocketed at Nepeta, slashing away, and forcing her to dodge as fast as she physically could, which wasn't quite fast enough.  
  
"Nepeta-chan!" Heliko gasped as her partner hit the ground with sparks flying.  
  
"I suppose the plans I had for Iyo are going to have to be scrambled for now," Enter said, causally looking down on Nepeta, and then blocked a strike from Equius' sword from behind that he didn't even need to see coming to know it was there. "A shame, really. She was going to be the perfect new host for my Dear Escape."  
  


* * *

  
The Avatar of Escape blasted away at the two Kiramagers as they dove behind a piece of set decor.   
  
"Stop hiding and fight me! Or are you not good enough for that!?" Escape demanded.  
  
And then twin bolts of fire hit the floor before her- forcing her to turn and look in a different direction.  
  
Harley and Tomo also looked that way, to see Beet J Stag and Mei standing there, holding golden painted blaster-morphers in hand.  
  
"Who are they?" Harley asked.  
  
"Who are you two?" Escape demanded at the same time.  
  
"Escape," J said. "A pity you were revived as well."  
  
"Do I know you?" Escape asked. "You sound like you know me."  
  
"That is Gog and Magog," J repeated. "You are Escape. And as for who we are...?"  
  
"It's Morphing Time," Mei said, flipping out the visor on her blaster.  
  
J did the same- golden lines of energy encircled the both of them- and silver fragments of J's body detached, rocketing sideways towards Mei, and colapsing around her as a suit formed around her and J both.  
  
Helmets formed around their heads, and then they held up the blasters to their faces- "Set Visors!"  
  
Their helmets formed, and two new Go-Busters stood there before them.  
  
J looked himself over, and then said, "Ah. I think I grabbed the wrong Changer. I'm supposed to be silver." He was in fact, Gold.   
  
"We can fix it later," Mei said, wearing the silver suit.   
  
"Who are you?" Escape demanded. "Tell me! I need to know!"  
  
"For today, I am _**Beet Buster**_ ," J introduced himself, taking an unfamiliar pose out of memory.  
  
"And for today, I am _**Stag Buster**_ ," Mei continued, taking on J's usual pose out of suit powered instinct.  
  
"Go Busters?" Tomo asked. "I guess they found their missing rangers!"  
  


* * *

  
Enter spun around and slashed at Equius' chest, sending him stumbling backwards.  
  
"Aniki!" Jetta cried out.  
  
"A real shame," Enter sighed. "I'll have to find a better host somewhere else. I wish for my dear Escape to have a living body to call her own much as I have now, thanks to Majeste Gilgamesh. And now even he wants me dead too!" He glared at Equius. "I have your pitiful Atlantian friends to thank for that costly deception. Zuit. What a pain."   
  
He prepared his sword, readying a glowing strike attack on it.  
  
"Farewell, Kira-" he began to state when several blaster bolts hit the ground before him, forcing him to stop.  
  
Enter glanced in that direction, and saw three familiar suited forms standing in his way with blasters aimed at him. He chuckled, humorously, as Hiromu once again called him out:  
  
"Back away from them, _**Enter!"**_  
  
"Ca va, ca va, ca va-" Enter asked, with a small bowing flourish. _"Go-Busters?"_  
  
"Saba?" Youko asked. "Did you just call us fish!?"  
  
"I think it's Earth French, Youko," Ryujii said. "It basically means, 'What's up.'"  
  
"My my my," Enter chuckled. "I'm having De Ja Vu, all over again."  
  
"I'm here, Everyone!" Atsuya came running up, morphed, to check on Equius and Nepeta. "Are you two alright?"  
  
"Oh, more people?" Enter asked. "I'm feeling nostalgic. Why don't you roll call? Go ahead, I'll wait."  
  


* * *

  
"SHINY!" Harry leaped into the battle already morphed, flipping over the two Go-Busters, and landing a kick against Escape's chest- sending her sprawling backwards.  
  
"Harley, Tomo, you okay?" He asked.  
  
"We're fine!" Harley said as they got out of cover.  
  
"And just who are you?" Escape asked, eyeing the silver suit before her.  
  


* * *

  
"Inspiration Sparkling, _**Kiramei Red!"** _Atsuya introduced.  
  


* * *

  
"Piercing Shining!" Harry introduced himself. _ **"Kiramei Silver!"**_  
  
"Guided Shooting!" Tomo went next, standing in line with the others. _**"Kiramei Yellow!"**_  
  
"Rush Lightning!" Harley continued, joining them in line. _**"Kiramei Green!"**_  
  


* * *

  
 _ **"[Red Buster](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/powerrangers/images/f/f6/Red-Beast-Morpher-Ranger.png/revision/latest?cb=20190427152723),"**_ Hiromu continued the roll call.  
  
 ** _"[Blue Buster,](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/powerrangers/images/c/c5/Blue-Beast-Morpher-Ranger.png/revision/latest?cb=20190427152758)"_ **Ryujii continued.  
  
 _ **"[Yellow Buster](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/powerrangers/images/9/9c/Yellow-Beast-Morpher-Ranger.png/revision/latest?cb=20190427152904),"**_ Youko completed her team.  
  
"Sharpened Unstoppable," Equius stood on his feet again. _ **"Kiramei Blue."**_  
  
"Deft Incredible," Nepeta completed the full call. _**"Kiramei Pink!"**_  
  
"Busters Ready?" Hiromu asked.  
  


* * *

  
"Rangers Ready?" J inquired, leading the tense build up towards a leap into action.  
  


* * *

  
"GO!" All eleven of them ran forwards towards their respective enemies.  
  


* * *

  
"What what what what-" Kurantula watched the two part fight on two different screens- darting back and forth between the two at a rate likely to give him whiplash. _"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?!?!"_ He stomped his feet in the water and threw his fists into the air wildly. _**"WHAT THE HELL IS EVEN GOING ON!? I'M SO CONFUSED!!!"**_  
  
"It seems Enter's plans have been exposed," Garuza snapped his fingers. "Bechats! Go Meddle, and Buy Us Time!"  
  


* * *

  
Bechats suddenly spawned in the middle of the fight between the Go-Busters, Kiramages, and Enter.  
  
"Oh not these guys!" Nepeta shouted.  
  
"I'm so totally lost," Jetta said, still held in Heliko's hands.   
  
"Me too," Heliko agreed, watching as the brawl split up horribly.  
  
"Oo La La," Enter chimed as he nonchalantly ducked under a Bechat's staff swing. "Seems Garuza noticed our little spat!"  
  


* * *

  
"HAHAHAH!" Escape laughed like a maniac, blasting away at everyone and everything- Bechats, Kiramagers, Go-Busters, stage props and stagehands- it didn't mater.  
  
She shot at everything, whirling in circles.  
  
"Will she watch where she's aiming?!" Harley shouted- ducking under a blaster strike that hit a Bechat in the face.  
  


* * *

  
And then to make matters even worse, the real Iyo-chan walked up then, spotting the entire brawl outside of her apartment complex, and she just stared on.  
  
"What the heck is happening?" She asked.  
  
Equius and Nepeta spotted her. "Iyo!" Equius called out.   
  


* * *

  
"Damn it!" Kurantula shouted. "Troubleclef! Get her out of there NOW!"

* * *

[The Jamenshi materialized on Iyo's back](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei11-troubleclef2.png)\- decloaking, rather- much to the girl's surprise.  
  
"Manager?" She asked.  
  
"It's too crazy here!" Troublecleft Jamen, whose mask was shaped after a Treble Clef musical note. "We should retreat to the stage for now!" He jumped off of her back, and then said- "CLIMB ON!"  
  
"NO!" Equius shouted.  
  
 _"BECHATS! WITH MEEEEE!"_ Troubleclef called out, and several bechats broke off of the fight to follow as he ran away, Iyo on his back.  
  
"Go handle them!" Atsuya said as he whalloped a Bechat on the head and then kicked it into the brawl between Enter and Hiromu, causing the Varglass Avatar to stumble at the sudden intrusion. "We've got this here!"  
  
"Right!" Equius and Nepeta took off after them.

* * *

 _ **_"SHINY BREAKER!"_ SPIKOOOOOOOOOOM!**_  
  
Escape slapped the flying jackhammer away with the side of one of her guns, and then fired off at Harry with the other gun, shouting in annoyance. "Go Away! You're not Good at all!"  
  
 ** __"TRANSPORT!"__ **twin swords formed in the Gold and Silver Busters' hands, and the two new Rangers ran forwards with intent to finish the job.  
  
 ** __"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"__ **Harley and Tomo's swords ignited with brilliant light.  
  
 _"STAG SLASH!"_ Mei shouted.  
  
 _"BEET SLASH!"_ J shouted.  
  
 _"KIRAMEI DOUBLE DYNAMIC!"_ Tomo and Harley shouted.  
  
Four energy strikes came slamming down upon Escape in that moment- breaking through her armor and shattering the Avatar beneath with a fairly large explosion for a soundstage movie set.  
  
"Enemy Defeated," J said as the flames settled down, revealing the Avatar to have been destoyed. Then, quietly, "For now."  
  


* * *

  
Enter staggered suddenly- and shouted- _ **"NO!"**_ and then with a furious slash against the Go-Busters, he leaped away into a teleport, vanishing from sight.  
  
"No! He got away!" Atsuya shouted as he dealt with a straggling Bechat.  
  


* * *

  
The bechats got in Equius' way as he chased after Iyo and the Jamenshi.  
  
"Get out of my way!" He shouted.   
  
He channeled his Kiramental- ** __"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"__ **the sword glowed brightly, and extended.  
  
He spun the sword around in a circle, slicing through the Bechats with a **__"CHECKMAGE!"__**  
  
Equius ran through the explosions that followed.  
  
Nepeta got infront of the Jamenshi and pointed her gun at it. "It's the end of the Act for you, Jamenshi!"  
  
Troubleclef scoffed- "Don't forget I've got her!" He spun around to show Iyo's back to Nepeta.  
  
"What? Me!?" Iyo asked, shocked.  
  
"Then..." Nepeta reassessed her shot trajectory... Loaded her blaster with the disks, and charged it. _**_"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"_**_ "Tomo Impersonation Special!" She shouted as several Bechats attempted to interfere with her shot- and she had to deal with them- She fired off several consecutive shots that bounced around- hitting the Bechats- and then one special one that wasn't aimed at the Jamen directly, but rather at a pile of bricks that reflected the shot straight at the Jamenshi.  
  
 _ **_"CHECKMAGE!"_**_  
  
...A bechat threw itself into the line of fire, tanking the shot.  
  
"Thank you, Staff," The Jamenshi said, and then ran off.  
  
Equius and Nepeta regrouped, and chased after them.  
  
"Iyo! Get away from that Jamenshi!" Equius called out.  
  
Iyo looked over her shoulder, and shouted- _**"WIll You Marry Me?!"**_  
  
"What-!?" Equius shouted. "Since when was that ever something we'd discussed!?"  
  
"Then No! I won't!" Iyo pointed at a corner. "That way, Manager!"  
  
"Yes, ma'am!" Troubleclef said as he rounded that corner into an alley...  
  
Equius and Nepeta swore as they rounded it as well, finding only a deadend alley that showed no signs of Iyo or the Jamenshi within it.  
  
"Damn it!" Equius shouted. "They must have teleported out!"  
  
Nepeta just sighed, hanging her head. "We lost them."

* * *

Kurantula sighed in relief as he slumped to the water covered floor. "That was almost a disaster..."  
  
"This would probably be why the Seers didn't intervene sooner," Garuza guessed. "Enter's plans may be more dangerous than our current plan, and so he was set up by fate to be discovered."  
  
"And just what does that say about my super awesome plan then, Huh!?" Kurantula asked. "What are you implying there, Garuza!?" He stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry.   
  
Garuza chuckled in response, "Oh, nothing in particular, Kurantula. Nothing in particular."   
  


* * *

  
Troubleclef Jamenshi twirled around the set up stage- broadcasting into the dark of night on Earth C- "All of you who have received Yodomihime's Tickets! Be Guided by her song and Gather Here!" He swooshed his cape, and stood before a microphone stand. "Follow now the light of the anglerfish!" He pointed at a banner marked with the Bechat mask symbol, and the banner glowed darkly. "C'mon, you little fish! Swim upstream into our jaws!"  
  
He stepped aside, and Iyo-chan began to sing into the Microphone.  
  
 _"Abandon it all, abandon it all, abandon it all!"_  
  
On the Beltus, with those words, Vrissy, Tavvy, and Sally suddenly awoke, and sat up within the infirmary beds.  
  
"What the...?" Marsti watched as they silently started getting dressed in eerie synchronization.  
  
 _"Abandon your home, your friends too. Abandon school, scociety, and even country-"_ Across the Alternia Galaxy, those affected by the tickets awoke as they heard the music and began to dress, and prepare to leave, all of them humming that melody.  
  
 _"The future is pitch black after all,"_ they marched down the streets, before teleporting through portals aranged for them.  
  
"Snap out of it!" Marsti tried her best to keep the three Overdrive Rangers from being mindcontrolled straight out of her infirmary, but it wasn't enough- they were teleported out directly.  
  
 _"Break, smash, blast them all away!"_  
  
"...Fuck," Marsti swore.  
  
\---  
  
 **EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 24TH, 2012.**  
  
At a certain stage venue, Troubleclef stood before the microphone, announcing, "This is the Live show from Hell itself!" He chuckled, "Just as soon as they arrive, the audience will offer its energy to the Jamenju and get eaten in the end!" He laughed, "Mic Test complete!" He stormed backstage as a dark purple aura of something sinister appeared around the stage for a moment.  
  
As he walked off stage, he failed to notice a certain pair of Yellow and Black Overdrive rangers peering out from behind a tree, watching, waiting, observing.  
  
June took out her morpher, and flipped it open before tapping the call button. "Everyone," she reported. "We've found it."  
  


* * *

  
The Kiramagers headed out for the door from the Lounge room.  
  
"So, got any idea how we're going to beat up such a clingy monster?" Nepeta asked Equius. "If he's stuck to Iyo, then... What will we do?"  
  
"I'll cut them down," was Equius simple answer, much to his teammates surprise, but nothing else could get him to confer more of this plan.   
  
Despite that, Atsuya took off his glasses for a moment, and winced at just how bright Equius was sparkling to his special sight.  
  
And so he said, "Don't worry. It'll work out, everyone."  
  
Equius said nothing, and Harley and Tomo seemed concerned. Harry, though just chuckled. "Man, what a strange team I landed on."  
  


* * *

  
"Okay, let's go," Troubleclef said, hanging off of Iyo's back. "As a wise man once said, It's Showtime."   
  
With a grim look to her face, Iyo stepped forth onto stage, her eyes closed, with Troublecleft cloaked. "I'm pleased you have all gathered, my foolish sheep!" She declared, shuffling towards the microphone as she threw her head and arms back. "NOW LISTEN TO MY SONG!"  
  
She looked down towards the audience and--  
  
And she fell short.  
  
The entire audience seating venue was empty.  
  
"What?" she asked, staring on, confusion growing in her mind. "Where is everyone...?"  
  
"What's going on?" Troubleclef reappeared on Iyo's back, one of his hands going to cover his nonexistent mouth out of shock. "Why is Nobody here!?"  
  
"Surprised?"  
  
Iyo and Troubleclef turned to their right, and saw that Overdrive Yellow and Black stood there proudly next to a burning banner- Kanaya and June were proudly holding their blasters with still smoking barrels, hinting at the act that had happened.  
  
"That's what you get for messing with our teammates," Kanaya said simply, giving a fancy twirl to her blaster before holstering it at her side.  
  
 _"WHAT!?"_ Troubleclef shouted. "Who are you two!? How did you even find us!?" And then he saw the Banner. **"KYAAAAH! _THE BANNER!?"_**  
  
"You're a real dummy for setting up a fake Stage Show Venue and forgetting to register it on the city's planning database," June said simply. "We compared every satellite map feed from now going back a month! Guess when a new stage venue appeared that wasn't registered to anyone?"  
  
"As for your banner," Kanaya said, "we realized it was what was luring in everyone, and so we destroyed it--"  
  


* * *

  
 _"--And as we speak,"_ Kanaya continued in narration, while Harry, Sally, Vrissy, and Tavvy helped guide the other formerly mindcontrolled people away to safety. _"Our friends are taking your audience to safety so they won't be harmed."_  
  


* * *

  
"And while that was happening," Tomo said as they walked up along with Atsuya, Nepeta, and Harley. (All of them were already suited up.) "We put out the warning to evacuate the nearby area. Now you won't even have bystandards to deal with."  
  
 _"W-W-W-W--W-WWWAHHHHT!?"_ Troubleclef shouted. "When did you have the time to-!? _ **YOU LIARS!!!"**_  
  
"It's no lie!" Jetta's voice called out, and sure enough, the Mashin swooped into view, depositing a suited up Equius.  
  
"This show is canceled," Equius said simply.   
  
"Equius Senpai!" Iyo squealed.   
  
"Iyo," Equius began. "I've been thinking it over and over... and once again I want to demonstrate my good faith."  
  
"You're going to marry me!?" Iyo squealed again, and Troubleclef barely managed to hang onto her back. She clung tightly to the microphone stand, and she was gripping so tight, the metal started to buckle.  
  
"No." Equius drew his sword, and simply said. "I'm rejecting you properly this time!"  
  
Iyo's grasp on the microphone stand clenched so tight the thing snapped within her grip and fell to the ground in two parts. Simultaneously, she and Troubleclef had the same reaction- "What!?"  
  
"Y-You can't mean you're going to cut her down with me!?" Troubleclef asked, tightening his grasp around Iyo.  
  
Equius said nothing for a moment, then, "Iyo. The man you proposed to was not me. That was a double who was pretending to be me that day and he gave you the wrong impression of me." And then, as he was quietly raising his sword, "For that, I apologize sincerely. I should have told you sooner... _I don't date within the Acting Industry_."

 _ **[_"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"_](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei11-troubleclef3.png)**_ the blade extended upwards sharply and brilliantly, and Equius said one simple thing:

"Salsiccia Horizontal Slash."  
  
He swung the sword.  
  
_"CHECKMAGE!"_  
  
The strike hit true, washing over Troubleclef and Iyo- and sparks flew from the Jamenshi.  
  
Iyo gasped- the Kiramagers did as well- June and Kanaya tensed up.  
  
...But Troubleclef just released Iyo and staggered backwards away from her as HE sparked from all the damage HE took, but Iyo hadn't taken.  
  
Iyo turned to gaze at the Jamenshi as he fell to the ground, and then felt faint as she realized the attack hadn't touched her... and worse than that, she felt the dark grip the Jamenshi had over her heart relaxing as a ticket of her own emerged from her body and shattered.  
  
Iyo fainted for the ground- and June rushed in to catch her.  
  
"Hey," June started as Iyo groaned. "Are you okay?"  
  
Iyo's eyes opened, gazing upwards at June's helmeted face, and she said, a flushed look going to her cheeks, "...Not a scratch."  
  
 _"H-HOW?!"_ Troubleclef shouted as sparks roared from his wounded body. "Why was it just me...?!"  
  
"I remembered an indignity I'd suffered," Equius answered, raising the sword in a reverse grip and tapping at its handle. "I remembered my Salsiccia Hot Dog that had _its **Middle Bitten Out of It!"**_  
  


* * *

  
Meanwhile, Harry suddenly sneezed, and Sally glanced at him as she helped load civilians onto the back of her Zord. "Catching a cold?" She asked.  
  
"No," Harry answered.

* * *

  
"E-Excuse me!?" Troubleclef asked, head tilting to the side in confusion.  
  
"I get it!" Harley snapped her fingers. "By controlling his Kiramental, Equius made the middle portion of his blade vanish just before it hit Iyo!"  
  
Watching from up on high, upon hearing this, Garuza stared at Equius, "I see. A Splendid control of Kiramental."  
  
"FINE!" Troubleclef shouted as he got to his feet. "Don't think you've won!" Dark energy began pouring out of his body. _**"I GIVE MY DARK ENERGY TO FINISH THIS JAMENJU!"** _and then he exploded- energy funneling outwards in all directions into the stage Venue, causing it to begin to transform.

The Stage was a giant MOUTH.  
  
"EVERYONE MOVE!" Atsuya yelled.  
  
Everyone ran away from the stage, and watched as the entire venue began to pull backwards into itself- the stage itself closing down and compressing. The seats vanished, becoming scales- no, something slicker...  
  
It began to grow upwards, and Equius shouted- "This entire Venue was the Jamenju the entire time!?"  
  
"I was going to sing in the mouth of that thing!?" Iyo shouted, astonished as the Jamenju began to uproot itself from the ground, roaring.  
  
Atsuya tapped his morpher, "Mashins! Now!"  
  


* * *

  
As the echoes of "Mashin Gattai" echoed through the dark cavernous area of the flooded SGC...  
  
"Behold!" Kurantula announced to himself, mostly, "Jamenju Stage Shellga's gallant figure and her BEAUTIFUL VOICE!"  
  


* * *

  
Stage Shellga ROARED- unleashing a shriek of sonic energy at **__"KIRA-MAGE-IN!"__** as it just finished forming.  
  
Nepeta clamped her hands over her helmeted ears within Heliko. "We've got to cancel it out!" She threw a switch.  
  
Heliko activated her rotor, rotating it and using it to unleash a whirlwind of highpitched SOUND and Wind with a cry of "COUNTERATTAAAAAACK!"  
  
The Shellga shut up for a moment, and roared before digging underground.  
  
"Alright," Atsuya called out, "Let's play Whack-a-Wraith!" he tapped his morpher. "Rolland!"  
  
 ** __"MASHIN ROLLAND!"__**  
  
 _"TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT!"_ Rolland transformed into his hammer form and combined with Kiramagein.  
  
"Let's Whack 'em!" Shovellow called out.  
  
Stage Shellga began popping up around the wide empty field that had once been the stage venue as Kiramagein tried to smack the Jamenju across the head.  
  
Once, twice, three times, four... and--  
  
"FIFTH TRY!" Rolland shouted, landing a whack against Stage Shellga's head. 

As the Jamenju reeled, Smog Jouki stomped into the field.  
  
"Smog Jouki!" Atsuya called out as Kiramagein turned to face the Mecha.  
  
"Let's try Plan A!" Harley said, tapping her morpher and spinning it. _"MASHIN EXPRESS!"_  
  
Express formed, and launched her restoring light attack that took over Jouki and began the Gattai Process--  
  
"Not Today!" Garuza launched a burst of Jamental power that forced the combination to cancel suddenly- jettisoning Express before the combination could finish.  
  
"Damn, so much for that!" Harley swore.  
  
Jouki roared, as Garuza taunted, "You won't steal my Jouki Ever Again!"   
  
The Jamenju roared- and then tackled Kiramagein from behind, grabbing the mecha and holding them tight.  
  
"We can't move!" Equius realized.  
  
"Time to Blow You Away!" Garuza declared.   
  
Jouki's mouth glowed with purple flames.  
  
"Crap! We'll be blown up at this rate!" Tomo shouted.

Nepeta gasped briefly, [then she reached her hand upwards, _"Eureka-ing!"_](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei11-stageshell3.png)  
  
"Nepeta!?" Heliko asked.  
  
"Let's use Equius' technique from just now!" Nepeta said.  
  
 _ **"BURN BLACKER!"**_ Garuza roared- and unleashed a burst of flames directly at the core of Kiramagein.  
  
"NOW!" Equius shouted.

[Kiramagein separated in that instant](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei11-stageshell4.png)\- breaking apart out of Stage Shellga's grip and allowing the energy blast to smash whoely into IT and not the Mecha that had been there a moment before.  
  
"What the-!?" Garuza shouted.  
  
Rolland flipped far away out of sight as the other Mashins tumbled forwards through the air, and then- "MASHIN GATTAI!" -Reformed into Kiramagein to spin right around and deliver the "FINISHER!"

[ _ **"KIRAMEI DYNAMIC!!!"**_](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/kiramei5-kirameidynamic.png) All ten of them shouted, and swung Jetta down upon the wounded Jamenju.

Stage Shellga fell backwards and exploded as Kiramagein turned back to face Jouki.

_**_"CHECKMAGE!"_** _

Garuza laughed as he lowered his fighting stance. "Fine. We'll leave it at this for today."  
  
Jouki transformed back into a train and rocketed off into a portal, escaping for another day.  
  


* * *

  
"Maaan..." Sally rubbed at the back of her neck. "So much happened while we were out."  
  
"Who knew Yodomihime was just a puppet?" Vrissy sighed.   
  
"Jamenshi magic," Tavvy nodded simply. "That explains everything."  
  
"That'll teach you all for doing something without telling someone first," Harry said. "Next time atleast tell me when you're going to do something strange like that!"  
  
"Sure, Bro," Sally said, nudging him in the arm.  
  
Then, the four of them stopped, watching as Kanaya walked towards them, an unnerved expression on her face as June and Iyo came walking up behind her.  
  
June and the actress-singer were visibly flirting with eachother.  
  
"...I didn't see that twist coming," Vrissy said simply.  
  
"Neither did June," Kanaya said in response, being in hearing range. "But she's rolling with it."  
  
"I guess Iyo's a fast rebounder?" Harry offered.  
  
"Horrible, Bro," Sally elbowed him. "Horrible words!"  
  
"What else should I say?" Harry asked in turn.  
  
And then June said something to Iyo, who nodded in understanding, and quietly left.  
  
"That seemed... amicable?" Tavvy observed as June joined them.  
  
"I told her she was cute," June said, "but she really needed to find something to make her sparkle and shine as her own person before she should be dating anyone!"  
  
"That's..." Tavvy adjusted his glasses. "Something."  
  
"Also," June said, "I told her that she shouldn't let stalkers cling to her like that ever again! That Jamenshi was just creepy!"  
  
"Ah, the 'stalking is bad' argument," Vrissy nodded. "Well managed!" She gave a thumbs up.

* * *

[ _ **KIRAFUL! MIRACLE!! KIRAMAGER!!!**_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzcI8KPeZd0)  
  
"I quit because He swung a sword at me!" Iyo said to the director, pointing at Equius.  
  
"Yeah, well the film's canceled anyways because our talent agent was working for the bad guys," the director answered. "So it doesn't matter anyways! We're getting audited by the Studio! I'm told we're all expected to testify in court if need be!"  
  
"Seriously!?!?" both Iyo and Equius shouted in surprise.  
  


* * *

  
 _ **NEXT KIRAMAGER!**_  
  
"Vines!? Why'd it have to be vines!?" Harley asked.  
  
"I get my own zord that's not a Mashin?" Harry asked.  
  
"THE ZORD THAT WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS!" Shovellow shouted.  
  
"It's time I make my proper introduction, Kiramei Silver!" Garuza declared.  
  
"Garuza!" Atsuya shouted.  
  
 _ **NEXT EPISODE: 12: The Drill that Pierces the Flytrap! Wait- isn't that 'Heavens'?? (DIG A TUNNEL!!)**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been ITCHING to do the 'Ca Va, Go Busters?' line for SO LONG you have no idea.  
> \---  
> I think it goes without saying that anyone paying attention to Kiramager will realize this is adapted from a pre-Silver introduction episode, rather than a post-Silver introduction episode. So. How do I work Harry into the plot WHILE also cutting out the side plot of three of the core five being taken out of commission by Troubleclef here like happened in the show?
> 
> ...Enter's plan getting upended. That's how I do it.
> 
> This episode mostly plays out as a straight script adaptation, with the sudden monkey wrench of Enter being exposed being thrown in the middle of it. Everything after that is kind of a scramble to get things back in line, lol.
> 
> It certainly livened things up a bit, didn't it? XD  
> \---  
> The early bits of this chapter play pretty much in chronological synch with the ending bits of the last chapter, timeline wise. Some repeated lines of dialogue from the villains were used to establish that fact a bit more obviously. 
> 
> Speaking of synch, can I just say how much fun the group roll call was? It's like a teamup special movie except IN SERIES! This is the kind of stuff I wish Super Megaforce had done, 'cause Gokaiger did a lot of fun stuff like this from the bits I've seen. (It's on my list to fully watch through like Go-Busters was.)  
> \---  
> Next Chapter: INTERMISSION: In Flight Entertainment.


	10. INTERMISSION: In Flight Entertainment.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Silver Wing tries to level out her emotional state. Boldir Lamati and Rose Lalonde do their best to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> That 'gotta do something to distract myself' energy buzz that accompanies certain types of emotional distress.  
> Insomnia.  
> Disassociation.  
> Therapy Introduction session.

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 25TH, 2012.**  
  
Atlantis hurtled through Hyperspace once more, and Silver Wing shuddered as once more that trembling, fear filled sensation tumbled through her gut.  
  
Hyperspace travel never really unsettled her before. But now? After almost a near week of constant teleporation events?   
  
Being ungrounded at all made her feel uneasy. That earlier sensation of fear that she wasn't going to be able to see the end of all of this had been replaced with the queasy sensation of certainty that someone out there meant harm for everyone in the universe- not that it hadn't been there before, but. Well.  
  
The Revelation that Gilgamesh had recruited a Villain from Yet Another Earth to serve in his army- one who had served a rampant virus of a villain that sought to merge with the Entire Planet of Earth in that world-line- it. Well.  
  
It spoke volumes more that the Seers had basically deemed dealing with HIM as the most expedient course of action to the point one of their own went to Recruit two Rangers specifically for the fight than they did the OTHER fact of a Jamenshi and Jamenju hiding on Earth C for so long...  
  
It scared her. She focused on as much as she could to take her mind off of it all.

Folding robes and bed sheets didn't work. 

Reading random books didn't work.  
  
Listening to music didn't work.  
  
Silver Wing found herself in a state of anxiety, trying to sort out her thoughts from everything else as the Universe tumbled on as it always did.

After a certain point there was nothing she could do to quell her anxiety but track down someone and talk.  
In this case, it was Boldir Lamati.  
  
"You're an awful tight ball of nerves tonight," Boldir observed as she entered the Cafeteria. It was quiet, late at night, and things were mostly packed away for convenience during the trip from planet to planet.  
  
[Sorry,] Silver Wing apologized. [I'm just... I need someone to talk to. I suppose.]  
  
"Let's see what I can do to help with that," Boldir said, grabbing a bottle from a fridge and a couple of glasses from behind the counter.  
  
They found a table, and sat at it. Boldir began pouring the bottle of unknown substance out into the glasses--- orange and sort of fizzy looking?  
  
Silver Wing took a hesitant sip, and actually chirped in surprise. [Carbonated Orange Soda?]  
  
"I know, it tastes like that but it isn't. It's some weird Local Pegasus plant that's Close to an Orange but not quite," Boldir rolled her eyes. "But anyways, Tagora wound up with a bulk order from a trade deal with some brewers experimenting with carbonation and I've been trying to find ways to burn it off ever since."  
  
[It's not bad,] Silver Wing said. [Just not what I was expecting.]  
  
"Y'know what it reminds me of?" Boldir asked. "These little powder packs fulla vitamins and minerals you dump in water and mix up and it gets all fizzy like this."  
  
[I can see the similarities,] Silver Wing nodded, sipping at the drink.   
  
For a moment, her mind went silent of its usual worries as she just... just savored the unique taste of the strange, soda like flavor and-  
  
She blinked, coming to the end of the cup.  
  
"You back?" Boldir asked, frowning.  
  
[Did... did I go somewhere?] Silver Wing asked.  
  
"You just kinda spaced out there for a few minutes," Boldir answered. "Mind went all blank. Couldn't even get a read on you."  
  
[Sorry,] Silver Wing apologized.  
  
"You don't need to apologize," Boldir said, "but... I am worried for you. It's not often I see people's minds go blank like that. 'Specially with you Rescuers."  
  
[It's not?] Silver Wing asked, head tilting for the side. [I would have thought that sort of thing was more common.]  
  
"See, there's like, normal blanking when you're focusing on something, or intentionally meditating," Boldir said, "then there's... Well, Disassociating's probably the best word for it, but this felt a bit more scattered than that. It was kinda like you were acting on Auto Pilot for a while there. You weren't even reacting when I tried talking."  
  
[I wasn't?] Silver Wing blinked again. [I'm genuinely sorry, I didn't even notice.]  
  
"It's okay," Boldir said. "There's no need to apologize for it. Honestly, you seem less stressed after it. But!" She held up a finger. "That stress is why I'm worried. What's bugging you?"  
  
Boldir refilled both cups, and Silver Wing took another sip of the fizzy drink.   
  
[I'm worried about the certainty of death, I suppose,] Silver Wing said. [But, not about natural deaths. But... unnatural ones. Forced on me by outsiders.]  
  
"Gilgamesh's forces," Boldir nodded. "I hear you. There's a lot of people worried about that right now."  
  
[But are they facing the feeling that this threat is going to eventually kill them specifically and with intent?] Silver Wing asked.   
  
"To that," Boldir said after a very long moment of processing. "I'd say you're definitely projecting a lot of other people's feelings onto yourself. There's no reason for anyone to be targeting you specifically, Silver."  
  
[I know,] Silver Wing said. [Gordon's told me as much too, when we've talked.]  
  
"Gordon's got a good idea of this shit, sure," Boldir said. "But I've got a good glimpse at everyones minds. Trust me when I say you're pulling people's feelings onto yourself."  
  
[I'm not really an empath, though-]  
  
"Who says you have to be?" Boldir shook her head. "Look, SIlver, you're one of those kind hearted people who listens to everyones problems and fears, and you make them your fears too in addition to everything you were already afraid of. And there's a lot of times that helps out because empathizing with people is a good thing. But there comes a point where you're just overloading on fears and you stop being able to function."  
  
[Is there any way to deal with that?] Silver Wing asked.  
  
"For starters, get some freaking sleep, Silver," Boldir said. "I can see your memories and you're up way past your own bedtime right now."  
  
[I suppose I am,] she sighed. [And after that?]  
  
"We'll talk more about it tomorrow, when we've both had a good night's rest, yeah?" Boldir smiled.   
  
Silver Wing returned to her room shortly there-after, and tried to sleep. Whether she succeeded or not was a matter up to interpretation.  
  


* * *

  
**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 26TH, 2012.**  
  
It had been an okay sleep, she supposed. But it was one that Silver Wing didn't feel qualified to judge given that she'd been woken up by the City exiting hyperspace and arriving on a new world. Time would tell if the time zones synched up right or not this time.  
  
All that aside, it was with some trepidation that the next morning, at Boldir's request, Silver Wing went to the office of one Rose Lalonde.   
  
"Hello, Silver," Rose smiled in that catty way she tended to whenever she had her purple hued cat ears out and about. She was waiting inside at her desk, working on some paperwork. "Just give me a moment to finish up something for Rhyss's schoolwork and I'll be right with you."  
  
Silver Wing nodded, and took the most comfortable looking seat in the room.  
  
She looked around the office, spotting photograph frames lodged between large tomes on psychology and the like. Everything befitting one of Atlantis' top  
Therapists.   
  
One picture caught her eye specifically- Rose and Kanaya with their darling daughter- hands held in all directions- no doubt taken shortly after the Cerulean colored Grub had molted into her bipedal form as her parents helped her learn to walk.  
  
"It's strange," Rose mused aloud suddenly, despite not looking up from the paperwork. "Suddenly you get a glimpse at your child's potential future, and it makes you start rethinking everything you're planning to do and were already doing. I can only wonder how my parents felt now, suddenly having two of me and my Brother around- and having us older ones be older at all."  
  
[I wouldn't know,] Silver chuckled, a bit flatly. [I'm not sure I'll ever have kids, personally.]  
  
"Fair enough," Rose hummed. "Even so. I'd imagine it's a similar thought process you're going through now, atleast, from how Boldir explained it."  
  
Silver tried not to react much to that, of course Boldir would tell Rose something when setting this all up.   
  
[I'm...] Silver paused. [I've dealing with this nagging certainty that death is all that awaits me, and I'm not going to survive this war with Gilgamesh's forces.]  
  
"And why's that?" Rose asked, picking up the paperwork, and gently tapping it into an aligned stack before captchaloging it.  
  
[I'm not sure,] Silver admitted. [Just a feeling. A hunch, really. I've never been one for visions. I'm not really a Seer. But... Just this aching premonition of a feeling. Keeps nagging at me. Biting away.] She scratched at her left arm slightly   
  
"Was there anything that changed recently to cause it?" Rose asked, teleport-whisking herself across the room at the end of the sentence to land comfortably in the chair opposite Silver. The outside sensation was close enough to her own Linking process that Silver felt reassured for some reason.  
  
The tiny pop-woosh of displaced air felt like an afterthought, really.  
  
[A... a few things,] Silver nodded. [First I realized we'd be waiting months, if not a year to gather enough data on how the enemy's portaling technique worked from our end of things to be able to bypass the shielding around Earth. It... made me realize we might not have enough time.] She sighed. [I suppose that's really the worst thing. Feeling like there's a ticking time bomb weighing you down and keeping you from just... processing.]  
  
Rose nodded. "Mh. It's not an uncommon sentiment. Some scientists who work near radiation tend to come to me to freak out after they've had a scare and a checkup, even with the healing abilities at our available disposal."  
  
Silver Wing could guess a few of those people- Gordon likely one of them- but didn't press for details. [That's... how it started, at any rate. After the recent revelations about Enter being from another Dimension entirely...] She shuddered. [I've had that feeling of... time waiting to end me kind of evolved from being just a faceless certainty to suddenly knowing the person who might be doing it. And... I think it's probably not quite so directly targeted AT me specifically anymore? Atleast, the feeling of it. More like, I'll be caught in the crossfire of larger sweeping plans?]  
  
"Right, right," Rose nodded, clicked a pen and started writing on some paper- where the hell had- OH, right, Captchaloging. Both vanished again after Rose had finished. After last night's brief spell, Silver had started feeling somewhat paranoid about spacing out for long periods of time. "So. If I'm understanding things right, this feeling that the world is out to get you has shifted to a feeling of a certain person is out to get a lot of people, who will no doubt hurt you in the process?"  
  
[...Essentially, yes,] Silver nodded.  
  
"I think we can work on that," Rose smiled. "Do you want to make this a weekly thing, daily, or monthly?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Silver Wing's mental state in these early bits of this act reflected my own shifts in mental state while I was writing. Early on I mentioned I'd dealt with a health scare, after that had been cleared, I'd still felt some unease due to the overall, well. General State Of The World As It Stands? 
> 
> Therapy has helped, and Silver Wing's reflection of my own Mental State gave me a bit of an excuse to show off A Rose Lalonde being Professionally Therapist! Two for one?
> 
> IDK.
> 
> Next Chapter: SGA:06X11: Weekend Whiplash.


	11. SGA:06X11: Weekend Whiplash.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lothor makes an Entrance. Enter breaks and enters. Plans are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> A BadGuy boardroom meeting.  
> Lamenting Lost Childhoods.  
> Introducing Necrolai, Flurious, and Moltor.  
> Gilgamesh isn't doing so well. (You could say he's a Wraith of his former self.)  
> Garuza loses control of his temper.  
> Mild Picture Embedding.  
> Karaoke Song Section.  
> Enter's a creep.

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 26TH, 2012.**  
  
Garuza stood silently as he watched the growth rate of the Jamenju hidden under Earth C's surface... Just another few hours and then it'd be ready to strike out on its own.  
  
"Ah, Garuza?" Kurantula coughed suddenly. "We've... got a visitor."  
  
Garuza turned, and looked to see Lothor striding into the room, flanked by his NInja Ranger minion-guards.   
  
"Lothor," Garuza began. "To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?"  
  
"Our 'Lord and Master,' Gilgamesh has called for a meeting of the minds," Lothor said, smirking. "Private discussions need to be had to remedy the, ah, Unfortunate Situation regarding our ex-colleague, Enter. I'm sure you understand, being the one who he stole from the most."  
  
Garuza considered that for a moment, then, he asked, "Why now, when he's put off holding group meetings entirely after Enter's betrayal?"  
  
"I'd assume it has something to do with the chaos his involvement caused your latest plan," Lothor said. "But you know Gilgamesh. Sometimes he gets these strange ideas in his head and tries to do something crazy! Not like us sane ones who do all the heavy lifting if you know what I mean." He winked.  
  
"Very well," Garuza said. "When is this meeting?"  
  
"In an hour," Lothor answered. "That is to say, we're leaving Now."  
  
And with that, he turned to leave, and Garuza glared daggers at the man's back as his Ranger Guards followed alongside.  
  
"What's going on?" Kurantula asked, quietly.  
  
"I don't know," Garuza answered, hands clenching into fists. "...We can leave the Jamenju to act on its own accord once it finishes growing. I get the feeling this may take a while."  
  
"Let's hope it doesn't," Kurantula shuddered. "I've got a bad feeling all of a sudden."  
  
"All of THE sudden," Lothor corrected at loud volume, some distance away. "Now pick up the pace! We're wasting time."  
  
Kurantula stuck his tongue out in protest. "Jerk!"  
  
Garuza shook his head, and then walked ahead after Lothor.  
  


* * *

  
Elsewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy, on a certain once Jaffa occupied world upon which a rift in spacetime sat. This rift had once been set up by a villain known as Venjix, who had torn his way into this reality escaping his inevitable demise. He'd transported a whole building from his Earth to this far away corner of the galaxy in another world.   
  
That Earth had been home to a Domed City, called Corinth, that had since been evacuated of its population into the Interdimensionally traveling Castle Ship known as the Unwritten. But, that story was but base world building, and a very short summary of all the troubles that had happened regarding that incident and the ones that followed.  
  
What mattes now is that the planet is mostly abandoned, and that it's under heavy long term observation.  
So, as Enter appeared out of a teleport near the planet's Stargate, the scowl on his face was recorded by several cameras that he slashed apart with a cable strike.  
  
"Fine," Enter said to himself as he marched down a well worn path past automated security checkpoints and the like, destroying them as he went. "My plans for Iyo-chan to be Escape's new host may have failed. And sure, my plans for continued ease of access to Kiramei Blue have also been scuttled because of it..."  
  
He approached the remains of the long since demolished Venjix facility, and approached- and crossed over- the Rift housed within, entering into the abandoned, Domed City of Corinth, now used only for training exercises and the like.  
  
He paused at the rift's edge, and he smiled for once. "But I always have my Backups."  
  
Tracking devices would lose his location after that.

* * *

[ **o < \--- STARGATE: ATLANTIS --- >o** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0K2bRdtGlg)

* * *

Gina Kae frowned as the last diagnostic tests of the new Zord for the Kiramagers was performed for the day. "That's it. All systems read green. We just need to test it with Kiramei Stones to pilot it in its humanoid form... but... Those systems are still not properly connected yet. Still, it should work with just a Human Pilot like any other Zord."  
  
She looked up at the giant orange machine. "I should be happy about this."  
  
She wasn't. Instead, she was just dead tired on her feet.  
  
With a yawn, Gina stretched her arms out and turned to leave.  
  
"I'll figure it out tomorrow," she promised herself. "I need some sleep to get my mind around this problem for sure."  
  


* * *

  
"Hey, Akita?" Aradia Megido asked as she and her fae Matesprit gazed out over the ocean of the new world Atlantis had settled on from the luxurious poisiton of a random hallway balcony- the daytime sky was a slightly greener shade of blue than most worlds, but the atmosphere was still breatheable just fine.  
  
"Yeah?" Akita Red asked. "What is it?"  
  
"Do you ever wonder if that bracelet could, like, reverse someone's age?" Aradia asked.  
  
Akita shook her head in disbelief, but answered, "Yeah. It probably could. Shaper alone is basically a more advanced version of the Ancient Gene Sequencer. Not that I'm ever going to use it on someone for that, though. Why do you ask?"  
  
"Just... a little bit wonderin', is all," Aradia said.   
  
"Wondering what?" Akita asked.  
  
"How I'd look in a Ranger Suit?" Aradia answered, and Akita laughed.   
  
"You? In spandex? Oh, I'd pay to see that!" Akita grinned.   
  
"Hey, I hear it's not really spandex," Aradia fake protested.   
  
"But honestly," Akita asked, "what's up? I've never known you to want to look back like this, before."  
  
Aradia worked her jaw for a moment. "Honestly? I see Serara out there, living the best life she can after everything she went through, and now she's a Ranger too. I'm really kinda jealous, I guess. She's got a team now, and... I guess I'm a little nostalgic for being able to have a second chance at being a kid again." One of her hands gripped tightly against the railing in front of them, the other went up to her face and smudged away tears that had begun to form. "It's stupid, I guess. Even after all these years it still gets me what happened to me and Kanaya."  
  
Akita reached a hand out and squeezed down on Aradia's gripping hand, and after a moment, Aradia relaxed her grip. "It's not that stupid." She gave a sad smile. "It's the proof that what happened to us mattered even if we try to imagine and pretend that it didn't."

* * *

  
Two men, one with a frosty demeanor, the other with a heated appearance, were arguing with each other in a chamber as Lothor lead Garuza and Kurantula inside.  
  
"Gentlemen, stop squabbling!" Lothor shouted, getting their attention. "We're all here now."  
  
The two squabbling polar opposits glared at eachother, and Garuza found himself reminded of Freezer and Oven Jamen.  
  
"Thank you," a woman with a vampire aesthetic said. "I was just about to slap them myself if you hadn't shown up, Lothor."  
  
"Necrolai," Lothor smirked. "As charming as always." He then motioned to Garuza and Kurantula. "You know Garuza, the Crystalian, and Kurantula, the Mofang. Garuza, Spider-boy, this here's Necrolai, leader of the Magic devision, fighting the Mystic Rangers."  
  
"A pleasure," Necrolai said, flipping some of her hair over her shoulder.  
  
"The two squabbling brothers over there are Moltor and Flurious," Lothor continued. "I'll let you guess which is which."  
  
"Hey!" The lava themed one started. "Atleast give us a proper introduction!"  
  
"Moltor," Garuza guessed, and then to the frozen-looking one, "Flurious."  
  
"Lucky Guess," Flurious answered.  
  
"These two were fighting the old Overdrive team before my Wish Monster made them, aheh," Lothor chuckled, "vanish into the unknown?"  
  
"With my Chillers," Flurious rumbled.  
  
"Can't help the wish magic when it goes out of control," Lothor shrugged. "You know how it goes."  
  
"Where's Gilgamesh?" Garuza asked. "You said we were all here, but I do not see our King." And oh how those words felt like ash within his mind to say them.   
  
A wall hologram appeared then, featuring Gilgamesh's face, _"I am here,"_ he spoke, "listening."  
  
Garuza took in his appearance. It was far more Wraith Like than it had been before when Garuza had first spoken with the man in the SGC all those many months ago.   
  
But, the man looked far closer to how he did during that first meeting way back on Crystalia.   
  
Time was a finicky thing, and Garuza realized he'd been staring.  
  
"I was told this was an in person meeting," Garuza stated the obvious to cover. "I apologize for my misunderstanding."  
  
Lothor shot the Crystalian an annoyed glance. "Yes, well, I may have forgotten to clarify that it was a meeting between us generals. In person that is."  
  
 _"Regardless,"_ Gilgamesh said, _"it does not matter. The reason for my absence is the same reason you have been gathered here today. My most enterprising Generals... and those whose recurring enemies have been drawn into the conflict generated by Enter."_  
  
"The Power Rangers," Lothor said with a certain gravitas. "Yes. I've captured one of their teams, all but one of them escaped my Wish Twister."   
  
_"Which is why I'm asking you to take point on this mission,"_ Gilgamesh said. _"You shall lead this motley crew until you have dealt with Enter's machinations."_  
  
"What of our standing orders to conquer our given worlds?" Moltor asked. "Surely we cannot just abandon our plans!"  
  
 _"Continue with your attacks at your leisure,"_ Gilgamesh said. _"As tempting as it is to cancel your standing orders, you must still attack those worlds, however your plans must now ALSO be done with intent to draw out Enter. Search for him, find him, and_ **BRING HIM TO ME!"** Gilgamesh's voice warped- becoming very Wraith Like to the point of hissing. **"He Must PAY for the disfigurement he has caused me! And I will not allow him to continue to skate around unpunished."**  
  
"And of the Rangers?" Necrolai asked.  
  
 **"LEAVE THEM,"** Gilgamesh hissed. _"If they can draw out Enter, then that is better for us. We will use them as tools to thwart Enter as well. Until Enter is brought before me, **NOTHING ELSE MATTERS."**_  
  
And then, he growled, and cut the feed.  
  
Garuza wasn't surprised. Many of the spirits of Gilgamesh's Army had been badly affected by the bomb the Atlanteans had used Enter to deliver. But their hosts were humans, and easily subdued after a short amount of time.   
  
A Wraith? Pegasus lore said they were tough even before the Zilliyum wave from the Galactic Rift. There was no telling what that Commander's powers were before Gilgamesh had possessed him, or what he may have developed in the time since being possessed. It was no surprise that now that the Wraith had been given an inch, he was trying to take a mile or more.  
  
Gilgamesh's privacy and seclusion wasn't just because of security concerns. Oh, no.   
  
It was never that simple, but now it was all starting to make sense. Far too much sense, really.  
  
Garuza's laughter couldn't be stopped- his amused chime rung out. And so he did what he did best, and lied his ass off. "So that's how it's to be?" He laughed louder. "Very well! I shall spare those Kiramagers for now, if that is what our Lord demands."   
  
Necrolai and Flurious looked at him like he was mad. And Garuza felt it. He'd already spared the Kiramagers plenty. If he kept that up then he'd just give them too many chances to learn and evolve. To get stronger.   
  
Ah, but Lothor laughed as well, and he seemed just as amused if not moreso.  
  
"Well! It's certainly quite the change of pace, I'd say," Lothor said, grinning like a lunatic. "Dealing with the Rangers will be a cakewalk after we defeat Enter." He motioned towards the table, "Now, obviously Garzua here's onboard. So who else is with me?"  
  
Moltor stepped forwards. "The new Overdrive team is annoyingly chipper, but they're inexpereinced. They can wait to fry."  
  
"Very well," Flurious said. "I will co-operate with taking down Enter before we finish the Rangers."  
  
"Are you all mad?" Necrolai asked. "Leaving the Rangers alone is bound to get us killed!"  
  
"We can leave them be for some time," Garuza said. "They can't gain too much power too quickly. If we defeat Enter before we reach a critical juncture, then we'll succeed in our mission."  
  
Kurantula spoke then, for the first time this meeting, "Ah! And besides, the Rangers are after Enter anyways! If we let them do the heavy lifting, we might be able to squash all of them at once!"  
  
Necrolai bristled, but relented, "Fine. I'll allow it. What's the plan?"

* * *

  
Enter hummed the Jingle Bells Melody as he searched through the scrap heap of discarded robot parts that resided in a junk yard somewhere on that abandoned Earth.  
  
Venjix's Discard Pile, as it were.  
  
All the ideas he'd had, and scrapped for resources... but there were still some clever bits remaining.  
  
A peace of a decorative smoke pipe here, a water valve there, a rusted over oil pump...  
  
"Venjix's technology is quite impressive," Enter said, laying out more and more parts until he had enough for three robots each, and then some. "Even after all this time decaying, it still holds up as a whole... My my my... what a wonderful opportunity I have."  
  
He began bagging up the parts into their own little containers, and then started to assemble frames for a fourth and fifth body.  
  
"It always pays to have backups," Enter said. "And this time, I'll have one for Escape as well. One that will atleast update before her inevitable demise again." He sighed. "Maybe I can instill into her a sense of self-preservation this time?"  
  
It would be a perfect stop-gap until he could get her a new human host... and perhaps found a second one for himself as well. It never hurt to be overly cautious, or find ways to fake ones death, after all.  
  


* * *

Hours later, back at the SGC, Garuza's fist smashed into a wall, raw Jamental power flowing off of him.

"Yeesh," Kurantula grimaced. "You don't seem happy."  
  
"I'm not," Garuza said. "I'm going to take Jouki for a walk."  
  
Garuza headed towards the bay where Jouki's stone form resided- massive and tall and full scale.  
  
He climbed inside, and opened the maintenance shaft doors that allowed him a clear shot towards the surface.  
  
Jouki's stone raised upwards to the surface, and he floated over the ruins of the SGC after reaching the prime altitude.

Garuza breathed heavily as he let his thoughts tumble around inside him.  
  
 _ **Plan?**_  
  
 ** _PLAN?!_**  
  
Lothor had no plan! Just a bunch of vague ideas to keep them all occupied while he did nothing! The "Plan" such as it was, was to lead the Rangers on wild goose-egg hunts to keep them from finding Enter! What an idiot!?  
  
And none of the others had seen it. Lothor was such an idiot he'd managed to bluff them all into believing it was a decent plan!   
  
The bastard! The idiot! The- The-! 

**__ **

**_"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"_** Garuza roared as his Jamental power overflowed out of Jouki, setting the landscape on purple fire for at least a mile around.

* * *

 **EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 27TH, 2012.**  
  
 __"NO LUCK! TRY AGAIN!"__ the Shiny Kiramei Changer announced, ending the search.

Harry scowled at the device. "So you could find a bunch of Kiramei Stones easily enough when I'm right next to them, but you can't find one damaged one on a planet we know one's on at all?"  
  
"Unfortunately, we weren't paying attention well to the path we were traveling at first," Mei admitted. "Sorry I'm not much more help."  
  
"It's fine," Harry shook his head, then looked at the robot girl before him.  
  
Mei- like from Kiramei Stone- which was what she had been carved out of, apparently, when a Kiramei Stone shattered with Enter's meddling.   
  
She certainly had a certain crystal look to her face and head, but everything else was just cloth over her frame. Actual clothes in the Atlantis Civilian Uniform outfit style, rather than what she'd been formed with. Those apparently crystaline clothes were being examined for any signs of trying to figure out just what the hell process had even happened.   
  
The same couldn't be said for J, who was just entirely made out of Kiramei Stone disguised as metal. The parts of him that should have been entirely robotic weren't.   
  
It was like the Sub-in, Doctor Kae had said, but that she'd wanted to run more tests. Tests that meant that Harry was out here in the forest with Mei as they looked for the cave that Enter had caused all this trouble in.  
  
"Outta curiosity," Harry started, "can't you, like, sense where the rest of the Stone would be?"  
  
Mei shook her head. "Unfortunately no. My sense of self is limited to this body. I can't tell what the stone I was cleaved from is doing, or where it may be. There's no link."  
  
"Something like Esprez and Drybe, then," Harry guessed, glancing upwards as Esprez rushed overhead in a full sized half-mashin form- scanning the landscape on her own as she tried to help them locate the missing Kiramei Stone.  
  
"I think that relationship might be closer to me and Jueki," Mei said, referring to the apparently crystal cloned robot from another world. "In that we can atleast communicate to eachother and work together. Rather than interacting with a fragment of ourselves that's nowhere to be found. But then again, maybe it's something else entirely different..."  
  
Harry could only blink as the newest Go-Buster went on a mild ramble.  
  
"After all, considering I failed to inherit any memories of the core self that we splintered from, down to not even having a name, and Jueki inherited his memories entirely from another version of himself somehow and was not sourcing from the Stone Either," Mei rambled, putting a finger to her chin as she gazed up at a tree branch. "Honestly, the most confusing aspect of all of this is the matter of the mind and soul when it comes to Kiramei Stones. What was our originator thinking during the splintering? Surely they would have tried to leave some form of memory if it was an intentional split. Am I more truly a separate entity unto myself, or am I just a mind who has been separated from their memories? Is this a case of Amnesia for Kiramei Stones? And if that's the case, would I be able to reform with the whole given time? Truly, what a connundrum!"  
  
And then like a switch was flipped, Mei went silent again.  
  
Harry found that she was like that during their time in the forest so far. Silent for long stretches of time unless prompted, before suddenly launching into a long winded ramble of some tangent that was clearly on her mind. It was certainly an interesting case of personality development, to say the least.  
  


* * *

  
"So, did Enter ever leave Corinth?" John Sheppard asked, gazing at the recorded security footage frozen in a still frame of Enter lashing out at a camera with his cable attack.   
  
"Not as far as we can tell, but considering he can teleport around like nobody's business?" Rodney shook his head. "Who knows."  
  
The two of them were in Rodney's lab for the moment, and John sighed. "Well, putting that aside. How's progress on the weapon going?"  
  
Rodney and John turned back towards the Fossilized Weapon that the Other Jade had left behind.  
  
"You mean not going, really," Rodney said. "With Roxy's help we've been able to synthesize more weapons like what we used against Enter, but like most of Roxy's void-tech, it doesn't follow any semblance of actual logic, so reverse engineering them is like trying to make a cake out of powdered Jell-o." He paused, then added, "You know I'm STILL trying to work out how that forehead-magnetic fishing rod really works?"  
  
John grimaced. "Yeah, I'm trying not to think about some of the weird things that thing's fished up."  
  
Rodney frowned, and gazed at the stone looking weapon before them. "Honestly, at this point I'm seriously wondering more if we're just flat out missing something obvious. I can't figure out how to turn this thing from a stone into something solid."  
  
"Maybe you should ask Gina to take a bunch of Kiramei Stone and magic morph it into the weapon?" John asked.  
  
"Are you nuts?" Rodney asked. "That much raw Naquadah in a morphological substance taking on the image of a weapon we don't even understand? It's more likely to blow up in our faces than actually work."  
  
"Well, it's just a thought," John said.  
  
"Yeah, well, thought's all it is," Rodney frowned at the weapon. "But that does give me an idea."  
  
"Well?" John looked at his teammate, expectantly.  
  
"We can't turn a Kiramei Stone into the weapon, but what if we turned a Kiramei Stone into something that COULD reverse fossilization?" Rodney asked. "After all, Mashin Express took on the most powerful form of an Asgard Hyperdrive just from blueprints that indicated a Hyperdrive existed. So maybe... All we need to do is give a simple instruction of 'De-fossilize This Object'?"  
  
"Better make it do both, just in case," John said.   
  
"Just gotta find a Kiramei Stone big enough to do the task," Rodney said.  
  


* * *

  
"Unfortunately, we don't have anymore Blue Diamond left over from the class projects," Doctor Kae said as she was in the process of running a scanner over J's robotic appearing crystaline body.   
  
"Damn," John grimaced. "That's a shame."  
  
He looked over towards Keller's office and saw her and Rodney making out and he idly sent a pulse to the City telling it to draw the curtains over the office- metaphorically, that was. The window tinted dark a moment later. Really, Rodney and Keller oughta have known better by this point.  
  
"We could ask Mabushiina if she'd be willing to source us some," Gina said, "but I'm not sure she could produce us enough to make something powerful enough to do what we want."  
  
"Produce?" John asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Crystalian tears are literally Kiramei Stones," Gina answered.   
  
"Seriously?" John asked. "Then the stones from the kids test-?"  
  
"Coincidentally stones of the same caliber, but they weren't sourced from tears, we don't think," Gina frowned. "Not unless some Crystalian cried enough to flood an entire bedrock layer with the things when burrying the other stones."  
  
"Yeah, that's probably pretty unlikely," John winced. Then again, time travel... No. Best not to go down that road. "And there's realy nothing left on Old Athos?"  
  
"The wellspring of Kiramei Stone has run dry," Gina answered. "Honestly, your best bet is to recover one of the stones Enter stole, and pray it has a personality that'll lend itself towards petrification-slash-depetrification."  
  
John frowned, "And if it can't do that even if it has the right personality?"  
  
"Then you'll have to figure out some other means of turning that weapon back into a weapon and not leave it as an inert stone husk," J interjected, and Gina and John looked to the Go-Buster with a pause.  
  
"He's got a point," Gina finally said, looking back to John.  
  
"Yeah, I know," John agreed.  
  


* * *

  
"I've been thinking about a fallback plan," Heliko said as she and Fiya sat on a table on the porch outside Nepeta's house on Diaspora, where both of their partners were playing catch with Carry, who was using the Sub-in form again.   
  
"Ah? About what?" Fiya asked, watching as Carry threw a large orange ball over to Atsuya.   
  
"Jouki!" Heliko said. "Even if we manage to get him back from Garuza, that meanie's gonna keep coming after him! He'll try to attack us and break into the city and all kinds of mean stuff!"  
  
"Hypotheticals aside, you're right about that," Fiya mused, turning away from the fun and games to look at his pink hued friend. He shifted from gemstone form into Mashin mode, staying small sized. Heliko did the same a moment later. "Garuza will try and take Jouki back if we do manage to get him away from him. So. What's your plan?"  
  
"I've got a few," Heliko said. "First, and most unlikely, decoy! We make a fake Jouki Gemstone and let Garuza take it back thinking he got the real deal!"  
  
"Unfortunately, he'll see through it the instant Jouki doesn't resonate with him and transform into a Mashin," Fiya said.  
  
"Thats why I said 'most unlikely!'" Heliko huffed, whirlling her propeller for a moment. "My second idea is sort of similar to that. But different. Maybe more risky."  
  
"Risky how?" Fiya asked.  
  
Helko took a moment to hover and spin so she was facing her back to him. "Let's say my tail's Jouki for a moment."  
  
"Okay...?" Fiya's eye-lights blinked. "Saying that it is an awfully pink Jouki for a moment. What's your plan?"  
  
Heliko giggled, then, split her tail in half as if she were about to shift back to gem form. "We pull a Mashin Express and BREAK Jouki in two!"  
  
Fiya stared at her for a moment, unable to say anything as Heliko reformed and turned back to face him. Finally, he said. "Okay. Yeah. That's super risky. Are you saying we literally break Jouki in half?"  
  
"Sortaaaa," Heliko's propeller folded back like bunny ears. "I'm thinking what we'd do is we break Jouki's mind off into a specific piece of him- maybe something small enough Garuza won't notice, and we let Garuza take back the rest of his body, meanwhile, we saved Jouki from being put through being controlled like that all the time."  
  
"I'm not sure that's even possible," Fiya said.   
  
"Yeah, I dunno either, but, Esprez and Drybe are able to make it work!" Heliko said. "If Jouki's body acts mindless under Garuza, maybe he won't realize what we did. Maybe he'll just think Jouki's finally fully under his control?"  
  
"Of course, there's the good news that Esprez may be able to take over his body better if she had Jouki onboard inside her whenever she tried taking over again," Fiya mused. "But then Garuza might get suspicious."  
  
"He's a big dummy head who'll always be suspicious of everything forever!" Heliko taunted. "He'll be suspicious even if we take Jouki and just give him back 100% without doing anything!"  
  
"True," Fiya agreed.   
  
"So, my next idea is pretty devious," Heliko said. "It's like the first decoy plan, but BETTER!"  
  
"How's that?" Fiya asked.  
  
"We make a Fake Jouki out of Blue Diamond Kiramei Stone!" Heliko decided. "Like the Sub-in, maybe? Something that can take on the appearance of Jouki's gemstone form and even transform a little- maybe transform like us at small scale?"  
  
"It would solve the resonating issue," Fiya allowed. "It'd feel like Kiramei Stone because it is. It could transform, but maybe not grow?"  
  
"From here, we've got two paths," Heliko decided. "First is we let Garuza take the fake Jouki, thinking its the real one. We moan and complain during the fight, but then afterwards, when Garuza can't make it grow to full size, we tease him and say we cursed Jouki to stay in tiny form forever and the only way to break the curse is to give it back to us! Then we can break out the real Jouki whenever we want!" She whirlled her propeller blade, then refolded it.  
  
"Won't stop Garuza from trying to take him from us if we do that, though," Fiya reminded her.

"Yeah, it's not ideal!" Heliko admitted. "The other path is a bit more... well. It's like the other idea. We use the fake Jouki stone to transfer Jouki onto off of his old body! Garuza gets the real Jouki stone back, and we still fight over taking it back all the time, he won't notice a thing! But, we've got Jouki's mind- the most important thing- safe and sound and out of there!"  
  
"It's got its own risks, but that may be the better option," Fiya mused. "We should talk it over with the team during the next meeting."  
  
"Mmh Mmh!" Heliko hovvered and bobbed up and down, nodding.

* * *

[Music Played in a private room in the Karaoke Bar somewhere in the Diaspora settlement.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVhm9XO_Vw0) Within which, the Mystics were sitting around, with Hector standing at the microphone, preparing to sing.  
  
"It's time for training and we're getting started- it's on, you know," Hector started singing, "And we wanna see you whip and shout it- we rock, you roll!"  
  
[How goes the training?] Rose Egbert texted Kanaya and June, who were both off with their own team doing team bonding stuff.   
  
"They say, go slow and everything just stands so still. We say, go go! We're ready for the fight, we know the drill."  
  
[Who Knew A Hiant Bull-Dozer Zord Would Be So Difficult To Control?] Kanaya responded- Rose's phone vibrating in her hand.  
  
"Monday morning and we feel defeated, seems so long ago-" Hector continued on singing. "Tuesday's comin' - we just keep on beatin' 'til we're in our zone."  
Rose waited a moment, and her Phose vibrated again. June had sent a picture of her standing atop the black colored super-car zord, accompanied by a text, [this zord's probably more harley's speed than mine, but it's pretty cool!]  
  
"They say, go slow! And everything just stands so still. We say, go go! You're gonna see us rip into it, just-"  
  
Rose began formatting her replies.  
  
"Jump up kick back whip around and spin, and then we jump back, do it again! Ninja-Go! Ninja-Go!"  
  
To June: [It does seem rather similar to Mahha's overal shape, doesn't it?]  
  
"Come on, come on -- We're gonna do it again, We just jump up kick back whip around and spin!"  
  
To Kanaya: [You'll get the hang of it. It took me atleast three days to get used to literally becoming a giant sized mecha-fairy, after all.]  
  
"And then we jump back, do it again! Ninja-Go! Ninja-Go! Come on, come on -- And do the weekend whip, yeeeaah!"  
  
June replied: [it does! i think dr kae just borrowed the design and reworked it EVER so slightly!]  
  
"Wednesday mornin' and we soon discover we gotta push our game!"  
  
Kanaya replied: [We Have Already Been At This For Several Days And Have Yet To Pull Off Combining.]  
  
"We slept on Thursday just to get it over, the whip's a day away!"  
  
Rose replied to Kanaya, slightly frowning. [It took us a further week before we managed to combine into the Titan.]  
  
"They say, go slow! And everything just stands so still."  
  
To June, [I wouldn't be surprised any.]  
  
"We say, go go! you're gonna see us rip into it, just-"  
  
Kanaya replied: [Fair Enough I Suppose.]  
  
Miko and Madison leaped on stage then, joining Hector in singing: _"Jump up kick back whip around and spin and then we jump back, do it again!"_  
  
Rose smiled, and snapped a photo of them, forwarding the image twice with a caption, [Wish you were here.]  
  
"Ninja!" Hector cried.  
  
"Go!" Miko and Madison cheered.   
  
"Ninja!"/"Go!"/"Come on, come on we're gonna do it again!" Hector continued.  
  
All three then picked it up for the next few lines: _"We just jump up kick back whip around and spin and then we jump back, do it again!"_  
  
Kanaya replied: [I Do Wish I Was There Right Now.]  
  
 _"Ninja!"/"Go!"/"Ninja!"/"Go!"/"Come on, come on and do the weekend whip! Yeeaah! Yeaah!"_  
  
June replied: [HAHAHA! what even song are they singing?]  
  
Rose replied, respectively, a [<3] and ["The Weekend Whip"] to those texts.  
  
 _"They say, no no! But we don't wanna sit around no more!"_  
  
Kanaya returned the reply, [<3]   
  
_"We say, go go! you're gonna see us rip into it, just!!"_  
  
June replied: [oh yeah, that song! isnt it the themesong for that show they made off of lloyds old adventures on alternia?]  
  
"Jump up kick back whip around and spin and then we jump back, do it again..." The singing paused for a moment as the song did a weird warping sound, and then... The trio leaped back into the song: **_"And then we jump back, do it again!"_**  
  
Rose replied to June, [I wouldn't know.]  
  
 _"Ninja!"/"Go!"/"Ninja!"/"Go!"/"Come on, come on we're gonna do it again, we just- Jump up kick back whip around and spin and then we jump back, do it again!"_  
  
Kanaya texted, [We Have To Get Back To Training. Breaks Over. TTYL.]  
  
 _"Ninja!"/"Go!"/"Ninja!"/"Go!"/"Come on, come on and do the weekend whip!"_  
  
Rose replied, [TTYL.] Then, to June, [Have fun with the Zord Training.]  
  
 _"Ninja!"/"Go!"/"Ninja!"/"Go!"/"Come on, come on, come on and do the weekend whip!"_  
  
June didn't reply beyond a simple [!!!] and Rose felt fit to captchalogue her phone again as the song wound down.  
  
 _ **"Jump up kick back whip around and spin!"**_  
  
The three on stage bowed, grinning.  
  
"Woooh!" Fargo clapped and cheered, and Rose clapped as well.   
  
Serara stood, a grin on her face, and she declared, "Now it's my turn!"

* * *

Enter stood in the empty, cavernous expanse of an abandoned warehouse-like facility somewhere on Earth C.  
  
It was ancient, Enter observed; the results of one of the Skaian Meteors of another whole universe that once rained down upon this world in but a select few number.   
  
Unlike most of the facilities dating back to Earth C's time in a place similar to Gilgamesh's controlled Earth, this place was even older than that, outlasting most other ancient structures. Well, save for the abundance of absurdly shitty Liberty Statues that were scattered across the planet. Those were almost Timeless in their own regard.  
  
Then, he'd done the most ingenious thing of all- he installed a Metavirus into the buidling, turning it into one giant Metadroid. One whose singular purpose was to be a mobile base that wandered when eyes weren't searching for them.   
  
And many, many eyes were searching for them now. The Kiramagers, other Rangers, Gilgamesh's forces... It was best to lay low. And for now, his giant Metadroid would be doing just that. Pretending to be a building.   
  
Before him, all the parts for three specific robotic creations were laid out on tables, wires connecting their various scattered pieces, and then three more wires connecting these three to-be-robots to Enter's laptop.  
  
He looked over everything, then, turned towards a back room where in two robotic frames resided. Just frames, only equipped with the barest of motors to allow them to move in absolute worst case scenarios. And these frames were framed by, well, large metal frames of a deep bronze color, highlighted by specific colors- one purple, one golden yellow.   
  
Enter reached up, and stroked at the visible skull of the frame within the purple frame. "Unfortunately, I couldn't find all the parts I needed to restore you, Escape. Your rebirth will have to wait a little while longer while I lay low."  
  
"Oh, get a room already, Dus!!"  
  
Enter scowled, and turned to face towards the glass containment box that one of his Stolen Kirmaei stones was stuck inside.  
  
"Be glad I even allow you to be awake," Enter said, gazing at the dark blue Kiramei Stone housed within. "I certainly don't need you causing me trouble by being awake."  
  
"'Allow'? What a joke, Dus!" the blue stone remarked. "You lucked out that I was already in this stupid containment box when I woke up! The minute you open it to try putting me asleep I'm breaking out of here, Dus!!"  
  
Enter's eyes narrowed at the Kiramei Stone, and then he said, "That may be true. But there are other ways I can deal with you if I decide it worth my time."  
  
"Like what, Dus?" the stone asked. "You can't infect me with one of those viruses without having to break through this box's containment field, Dus. And anything you do that could destroy me would break the box first! It's a stalemate, Dus!"  
  
"Do not test me, little stone," Enter said, stepping forwards. "I could dump that little box of yours inside a concrete slab and nobody would ever find you. So. Play nice and keep quiet while I work and you won't become part of someones building."  
  
"You're mean, Dus," the blue stone said simply, and went quiet.  
  
Enter smirked, feeling that he'd won.  
  


* * *

  
"So, lemme get this straight," Tomo Strider sat up, catching a significantly-less-than-regulation-size basketball in their hands as they did such. "The Film's canceled. The Studio's investigating everything. You Might have to go to Intergalactic Court to testify about Enter's manipulations. AND upon hearing all of that, your Dad's first act was to try to get you another job as an actor in a TV series?"  
  
Equius nodded. "It's quite frustrating. I just want to go back to Stage Acting, not Film Acting."  
  
"Imma be frank, Equius," Tomo said, narrowing their eyes. "That shit's messed up."  
  
"It really is," Harley agreed with a nod, unwrapping a tootsiepop and sticking it into her mouth.  
  
Equius, Tomo, and Harley were in the Strider apartment on the City of Atlantis at this exact moment. And while the Kiramagers were talking about current events and doing what little homework had been assigned to them on the coffee table in the center of the living room, their three Kiramei Stone Partners were resting on said coffee table, and (Former) Major Karkat Vantas sat at his own desk in the corner, reviewing paperwork of some kind.  
  
"Fortunately Aniki's Mom said no to it flat out," Jetta said.  
  
"Dad's gotten a bit in over his head with the acting thing," Equius sighed. "I don't know what's gotten into him, really."  
  
"Some parents just want to do whats best for their kids, whether the kids appreciate it or not," Shovellow remarked. "Others like to live vicariously through their kids and want them to have the lives they didn't!"  
  
"Pot meet kettle," Tomo said, eyeing their partner.  
  
"Ah, well..." Shovellow faltered. "The Shovellow Squad is different than that!"  
  
From his desk, Karkat snorted. "Sure it is."  
  
"Annnyways!" Shovellow made the sound of clearing her throat, none too subtly. "Did your Dad give up on it?"  
  
"He's still trying to get me to agree to it," Equius shook his head. "I'm putting it off by saying I'm not interested in the role's story specifically."  
  
"And what's that?" Harley asked, slightly mumbled around the candy in her mouth.  
  
"He's a protagonist who falls in love with the Grim Reaper... Who is attending highschool for some insane reason," Equius answered grimly. "And he's cowardly, he can't just commit to it and constantly runs away every time he tries to commit to kissing her. Atleast, that's the pilot episode's script. It seems like a dumb plot, if you ask me."  
  
The room was silent at these revelations, broken only by Mahha speaking up:  
  
"It really does," he said, quietly.   
  


* * *

  
Enter gazed on at the robotic bodies he'd assembled... continuing to lie there on their tables connected to his laptop.  
  
"Why why why am I hesitating so?" Enter asked of himself. "Everything is in place, so... how come I see this and refuse to pull the trigger?"  
  
He rapped the fingers of his right hand against his thigh.   
  
He looked over the three robotic bodies, and he frowned.  
  
"It's because I've over looked something, isn't it?" Enter mused. "Finally possessing a human body is giving me access to those emotions... as well as flaws such as a forgetful memory. What am I missing then?"  
  
Or perhaps he was just feeling that all-too-human anxiety and paranoia- fear of committing to a plan that was bound to backfire once again in some way.  
  
And then he hummed- "Maybe I've forgotten to get a proper power source?" The Monstone that had jumped into the Jamenshi certainly had given it a power boost, after all...  
  
"That's probably it," Enter decided, trying to convince himself.  
  
Yes, for sure that was definitely it and not at all anything tied to his previous plan having been scuttled so dramatically. No, he definitely wasn't missing the days when he could come up with a plan and see it through even if the Go-Busters stopped it.   
  
Enter turned and went to the bag of stolen Kiramei Stones he'd taken from that vault.   
  
"Let's see... I don't quite want to use any of you sentient ones... but perhaps I can find more of these Monster Stones if their powers resonate with yours..." Enter was bullshitting at this point. He knew what a ticking time bomb these Kiramei Stones were now.   
  
He'd gone to the trouble of stealing them because he thought they'd be a valuable resource, but honestly, he'd just screwed himself over, taking them. Drawn way too much attention onto himself...  
  
The Kiramagers were hunting for him because of these stones. He'd have to dispose of them.  
  
He grabed the largest of the bunch- a large square chunk of aqua-blue stone that had a rippled texture on it as if it had been assembled from a bunch of smaller pieces. Given the marbled white look streaking through its surface, between those different stones... yes, it looked patchwork. This one looked particularly unstable for sure. No doubt that attempting to use it would cause it to break down. Yes, it was liable to backfire majorly if he did anything with it at all.   
  
He put it into a sealed container much as the other one was in, and went into his private closet chamber.  
  
He eyed the deep blue stone that was assuredly glaring at him despite having no visible eyes, and he took that stone's chamber as well.  
  
He shoved them both into a backpack, and then slung the backpack over his shoulders, a smirk forming on his face as he said, "Time to go hunting."  
  
And then he started whistling a jaunty melody of Jingle Bells as he began to walk out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lotta ground to cover this chapter, and a lot of it's just SETUP. HOO. Yeah. But hey, It's Dusty! The Dust-buster! Dussssssssstoooonnn! He's a fun one, Dus. 
> 
> The few screenshots this chapter are from a couple of different episodes- the one with Jouki above Yodomheim/The Flooded SGC is from the Villain Recap Special from the Episodes 7-8 two parter. Had to work THAT shot in somewhere once or twice, it's just such a scenic image. 
> 
> \---
> 
> Next chapter: INTERMISSION: A Storied Inventory.
> 
> Which should be going up within a bit, actually. I don't got a reason to hold it back to Friday. So. YEAH. Here we go~~~!!!


	12. INTERMISSION: A Storied Inventory.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HALT! 2nd chapter for today! Make sure you see the previous one before reading this one~!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:   
> Kiramei-stone-napped/Kidnapped.   
> Stuck inside a box inside a bag.

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 27TH, 2012.**  
  
The Kiramei Stone who called himself 'Dus' grumbled as the whole bag rattled around as that Enter Creep walked around.  
  
 _'Just who the heck is that weird stone?'_ Dus thought to himself, gazing at the marbled aqua and white Kiramei Stone infront of him in the bag- highlighted only by Dus's own light. _'I don't think I ever saw anyone like that back on Crystalia? But then again... I don't remember being inside whatever danged Vault that creep said he found us in either.'_  
  
It was a shame that it wasn't Mahgel. Dus could use the familiar company.  
  
It wasn't like he could talk to the unawake stone anyways- if it was even at a point that it COULD be sentient, that was. For all Dus knew, that marbled pattern meant it'd been pieced back together after shattering. Kiramei Stones didn't normally LOOK like that. It hindered their own natural shine and Kiramental potential.  
  
But it FELT like a Kiramei Stone, as much as Dus could feel the stone's Kiramei-ness through the stupid glass boxes keeping him and the other one trapped inside.  
  
Sheer luck these scanning capsules blocked out the outside world and ALSO somehow prevented a Kiramei Stone from shapeshifting sizes. What kind of glass were they even made out of?   
  
Dus didn't know, and frankly wished that he didn't know this was possible at all.  
  
Dus racked his memory for what kind of Kiramei stone was Aqua Blue and had white marbling... The only thing that seriously came to mind was Blue Diamond- a mindless version of Kiramei Stone that could be shaped to whatever a person desired with it... But why the heck would someone make a full (For a given definition) sized Kiramei Stone out of Blue Diamond?  
  
If it was just enough Blue Diamond to make a reasonable approximation of a shrunken down Kiramei Stone like Dus, then what was the point? If it was ENOUGH Blue Diamond to make a full scale Kiramei Stone that was presently in a VERY small form?   
  
_**Hoo.**_  
  
That was either A: A lot of Crying from a Lot of Crystalians, or B: one HELL of a mother load of a Blue Diamond deposit that someone had stumbled on.  
  
But that still didn't explain the white marbling. If it WAS a bunch of Blue Diamond shoved together, why wasn't it a PURE Aqua color?   
  
Something was fishy about all of this, and Dus couldn't quite put a finger on it. Not that Dus had fingers in his present form, nor did the Aqua gemstone actually smell like a fish.  
  
Honestly, Dus had no idea what was going on since he'd been put to sleep. Something about an imminent battle with some distant empire opposed to Crystalia? It didn't make sense and sounded more like something he dreamed up, honestly.  
  
Hey! Dreams were a good sign, at any rate. Meant that maybe if Dus could break out of here he could Kiramental himself up a way to get out.  
  
And so the Kiramei Stone who called himself Dus thought on, dreaming up ALL the ways he was going to ruin this Enter's guy day as soon as he busted out of this chamber.   
  
If he was gonna be stuck without access to Kiramental from an outside source, he'd just have to whip up his own!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, short one, and PROBABLY could have been tagged onto the end of the last chapter, but, EH. This just didn't fit the mood as an end of chapter scene, so it was broken off to its own thing.
> 
> Next chapter: MSK: 01X12: The Drill that Pierces the Flytrap! Wait- isn't that 'Heavens'?? (DIG A TUNNEL!!)
> 
> See ya Friday.


	13. MSK: 01X12: The Drill that Pierces the Flytrap! Wait- isn't that 'Heavens'?? (DIG A TUNNEL!!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the late upload. I forgot what day it was for a few hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Venus Fly Trap Vines.  
> Attempted Kidnapping.  
> Dig a tunnel, dig dig a tunnel...  
> Explosions.  
> Dig a tunnel, dig dig a tunnel...  
> Fighting in a Mass Grave.  
> Fighting Underground.  
> Picture Linkage and Embedding.  
> Dig before the hyena comes!

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 27TH, 2012.**  
  
Somewhere in the Alternia Galaxy, on a random, uninhabited, former mining world, Princess Mabushiina gazed upwards at a large rock face, one carved with what looked like random scribbles to any who saw it... and didn't recognize it as the language of Crystalia.   
  
"My people were here," she reached up towards the wall, and imagined touching its vast surface. "And this is their grave..."  
  
It was a sad thing to discover. The message before her was one of mourning, and lament, and praying that future generations would not be forced into this indentured servitude that they had. Crystalians forced to mine Crystals and Minerals for the use of an oppressive Empire.  
  
It also held one other message. An ominous one.   
  
One of their own had survived through the power of Jamental. Survived to bury his people, and leave this message. Survived, and utterly murdered the people running this camp, and freed the other slaves.  
  
That someone was Garuza, and he had the audacity to sign the message before her.   
  
Mabushiina's hands clenched tightly, eyes tracing over a specific line, which she read aloud.  
  
"If I'd had Jouki... this would never have happened."  
  
A thousand years. Garuza had been wandering for a thousand years.   
  
Mabushiina took a deep breath, steeled her nerves, and then marched into the tunnel below the message.

She had to see for herself. 

* * *

On Earth C, in the town of Litner (A shocking departure from the Can themed names the world was known for), a loving couple- a Carapacian and a Human- held hands as they walked down a nighttime street, heading for a bus stop, as they cut through a park.  
  
As they walked, something slithered along the ground behind them. Several somethings, infact.  
  
Were the loving couple prepared to look at their own shadows trailing behind them, they'd see several vine like arms reaching for them with large, spiky hands that looked more like jaws about to chomp down on their very being.  
  
Finally, though, they noticed something was off, and turned to look behind them.  
  
[The drooling maw of a Venus Fly Trap lunged at them](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei12-seymour1.png)\- and they screamed.

* * *

 **EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 28TH, 2012.**  
  
Across two galaxies, alarms sounded across the Kiramager's changers, and all six looked down at the devices as Okurii's voice cut through- "Rangers! Emergency situation on Earth-C! Dispatch immediately!"  
  
"Roger!" All six answered.  
  


* * *

  
**_"When people Shine, Miracles are Born!" Esprez Narrated._ **   
  
**_"Kiramental- the proof of Warriors who can change the future!"_ **   
  
**_"KIRAMEI, GO!!!!" The voice on the Morphers exclaimed._ **   
  
[ **_MASHIN SENTAI: KIRAMAGER_ ** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffuDLZEVUnY)

* * *

Gina Kae watched from the lounge room as the Kiramagers ran into battle down on the planet below-[ suited up and trying to figure out what to do against a mass of venus fly trap vines trying to grab people](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei12-seymour2.png).

"Is this a Jamenshi?" Nepeta's voice came over the radio. "Venus Flytrap Jamen?"  
  
A vine latched to Atsuya's helmet- and Harley bashed it away- "Don't Eat Him!" A pause. "Are you alright?"  
  
"Thank you!" Atsuya answered. And then Bechats appeared, adding to the fight.  
  
Bechats, but no visible Jamenshi.  
  
Gina frowned, looking at the visuals as well as the deep scansp of the battle scene. The vines were coming from the ground, with no discernable source. Did the Jamenshi bury itself underground?  
  
"Get outta here! You're not important today!" Tomo scolded the bechats.   
  
A woman screamed.  
  
Then- there was blaster bolts, and then Harry leaped into the fray to save a couple of people being carried off by the vines. "SHINING BEAM!"  
  
Something was off.  
  
Something was seriously off.  
  
Where was the Jamenshi?  
  
The Bechats got dispatched, and Gina watched as Nepeta went to talk to Harry. "Did you see a Jamenshi anywhere?"  
  
"No, unfortunately. I took a look around from above but didn't see anything," Harry answered.  
  
Gina frowned.  
  
The Jamenshi wasn't above ground, thus, it had to be below ground...  
  
More attacks began cropping up in other parts of the City, "Rangers, attacks in districts C17, T108, and K69."  
  
"We'll split up to handle it," Atsuya answered. "Mashins! Let's roll!"  
  
As the Rangers summoned their Zords to rush off elsewhere, and Harry himself rocketed off on his Shiny Breaker weapon, Gina widened the Beltus' deep scans to pierce deeper below the surface...  
  
"Where are you hiding?" She asked aloud, gazing at the screen.  
  


* * *

  
Enter teleported into a deep dark cave on randomly selected world in the Alternia Galaxy. This was a cavern decorated with glimmering, gleaming orange crystals all around it.  
  
"Bon Bon Bonjour, Attempt Number Six," Enter grinned. "I do believe I've finally found what I've been looking for."  
  
The world rumbled around him for a moment, and Enter frowned. "A very unstable cavern, at that."  
  
"Enter!!" a voice shouted. "And-- Monstones!?"  
  
Enter turned, and he frowned. "Now just who might you be to know who I am?"  
  
Standing before him was Princess Mabushiina, who had her hands clenched tightly.   
  
"I should be asking you what you're doing here!" Mabushiina declared.   
  


* * *

Garuza looked up suddenly as if feeling if his grave had been trampled over.  
  
"Huh?" Kurantual looked over to Garuza after the sudden movement. "What's up?"  
  
"Continue working on a plan to Draw out Enter," Garuza said. "I need to check on something."

He took Jouki out a few moments later,[ hovering over the landscape for a moment](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei-joukifloat.png) before departing through a portal.

* * *

Gina's eyes narrowed as a thought hit her. Her scans were going progressively deeper and deeper, and yet NOTHING. No sign of the Jamenshi at all. The Seers couldn't see a Jamenshi attack coming either. That was why they'd been blindsided by this.  
  
"So what if it isn't a Jamenshi?" She asked, and changed her search perameters. Deeper, wider, searching for something bigger. What was the geology like in this part of the world? Somewhat mountainous, formerly volcanic... matched up to--  
  
"Oh you've got to be Kidding me," Gina swore.  
  
Even if Earth C didn't have a D'ni Cavern, it still had CAVERNS. Lots of them. Before the flooding and the rebuilding, this had been the New Mexico region of North America. Caverns. Deep caverns miles beneath the surface.  
  
She tapped the radio, "Harry, pull back to the Beltus. I need you to come here, now."  
  
 _"Got it,"_ Harry replied a moment later.  
  
She changed the search functions- the same kind that was used to get a beaming target lock into the Cavern of D'ni....  
  
If she was right. If she was right about this, then...  
  


* * *

  
"What am I doing here?" Enter threw his hands out to his sides. "Obviously, I am here to raid this cavern of its plentiful bounty of Monstrous Kiramei Stones."  
  
"This is a mass grave!" Mabushiina stated. "Would you seriously trample over the remnants of a dead civilization!?!"  
  
"Unnamed Mademoisel," Enter began, "of course I would." He smirked. "I was first born out of the collected data remnants of digitized scientists who sacrificed their lives to prevent my Majesty Messiah from taking over the world."  
  
"How horrible!" Mabushiina began.  
  
And then the two of them heard a Train Whistle- Jouki's whistle- from outside.  
  
"[Shit, of all the luck to have him show up now.]" Enter swore in French. "And now we have company."  
  
"Indeed you do," said Garuza as he entered the cavern full of glimmering orange stones. "To think that someone trespassing would trigger my senses... but to have that someone be the two someones I wish to destroy most..." Garuza drew out his sword. "I don't know which I should focus on first."  
  
"Garuza...!" Mabushiina began.   
  
"Silence, Niece," Garuza said, glancing at her. "I was being sarcastic." He focused his gaze on Enter, and pointed his sword directly at the Avatar. "Lord Gilgamesh wishes you to be brought before him for your transgressions, Enter."  
  
Enter held an amused look on his face as he dropped his bag to the ground. "Perhaps. But today is not that day. **_Let's Morphin'._** " As a crimson suit formed around him, Enter snapped his fingers, and what appeared to be Venjix Grinders teleported into the cave.  
  
"Grinders!?" Garuza started, shocked. "How did you-?!"  
  
"Uguts!" The robots chanted, readying their weapons and raising and lowering their arms mechanically. "Uguts!"  
  
"Fine!" Garuza snapped his fingers on his non-sword hand. "Bechats!!"  
  
His own small army of personal minions appeared, and the two forces ran to fight each other as Enter and Garuza. Mabushiina shrieked and ran to hide behind a rock.

* * *

Equius, Harley and Tomo were fighting bechats when Atsuya leaped into the fray.  
  
"C17's clear!" He reported, attacking a bechat.  
  
They had to keep the bechats away from the civilians, but the bechats were also keeping THEM away from the civilians, [who were being harassed by the vines.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei12-seymour3.png)

"Get away!" Tomo shouted- opening fire on the vines.  
  
Atsuya followed suit- and they blasted at the things, trying to keep them from hurting the civilians.  
  
More blasts came in from another direction- Nepeta. "Sorry I'm late!" She announced, running into the battle.  
  
"Where's Harry?" Harley asked, struggling with a Bechat.  
  
Nepeta fired on more vines- "Doctor Kae called him back to the Beltus for something! I don't know what!"  
  


* * *

  
Harry tapped his Morpher- **__"KIRAMEI CALLING! MASHIN DRIJAN!"__**  
  
Gina and he ignored the Morpher's vocalized call of the Zord, and instead focused on the Zord bay as a teleportation window connected the Beltus' bay to Atlantis' bay.  
  
Circles of warping space in the form of orange-silver bands of energy circled forwards out of thin air, summoning the shadow obscured Zord into existence. 

"Transport complete!" Gina reported. "I'll finish up the final tweaks, you get back to the fight!"  
  
"Got it," Harry nodded, and then ran off to get beamed back down to Earth C.  
  


* * *

  
The bechats moved in on Nepeta. "Grrr! They're really stubborn today too! How annoying!!"  
  
She started to fight the Bechats- and a child cried out for help.  
  
"No!" Equius shouted- realizing he was stuck fighting the Bechats.  
  
"These Bechats are REALLY clingy!!" Harley growled, as she fell to the ground because a Bechat grabbed her leg. She started whacking it across the head and shoulders to get it to let go.  
  
"We need to save that girl!" Tomo shouted, struggling against the Bechats.  
  
There really was just no end to the things. It was frustrating.  
  
"Get out of my way!!" Atsuya shouted, trying to push past two Becahts that were holding him back with their rakes.  
  
"WONDER RESCUE!" And then in came Harry, rocketing in on the "SHINY BREAKER!" he slashed through the finves, and caught the child as she fell out of the vines grip.  
  
"Thank goodness!" Nepeta breathed in relief.  
  
Harry put the girl on the ground and kneeled to face her. "Are you alright now?" His suit sparkled with light, and Atsuya couldn't help but grin inside his helmet.  
  
"Yeah! Thank you!" The girl nodded, then ran off towards her mother.  
  
"Bye bye!" Harry waved her off. "Be careful!"  
  
Finally, the Bechats came to an end as Nepeta and Atsuya finished the things off with slashes and blaster strikes.  
  
"Finally," Nepeta said, heading over towards Atsuya and Harry as he regrouped with them. "What about the thing Doctor Kae wanted?"  
  
Harry stood up, and said, "She's working on it. Needed me to summon my Zord."  
  
"Why?" Nepeta asked.  
  
"Everyone!" Tomo started- "I think I just found something."  
  
They all turned to where Tomo was kneeling, inspecting a seemingly dead Vine that had burst forth from solid ground- cement and tile.   
  
"This plant...." Tomo started. "I don't think it's a Jamenshi." They nudged it.  
  
"A Biological weapon?" Equius asked. "It'll be a danger if we can't pull it out by the roots." He grabbed the vine and tried to pull it out- but the thing suddenly came alive again and slithered back underground out of Equius' grasp. "What the-!?"  
  
"What the...?" Nepeta stared, looking around. "So... something underground isn't a Jamenshi... but...?"  
  
"A Jamenju," Tomo started. "I'll get Shovellow to dig it up!"  
  
Harry's morpher started humming with a call melody- Harry spun it, and Gina's voice spoke out- _"No need for that, Tomo."_  
  


* * *

  
Gina grinned as she gazed at the Mashin in the Zord Bay. "I've finished work on a super-driller Mecha that can plunge underground at 100 meters per minute. Well. Mostly finished. It's a slapdash fix without a Mashin partner to help control it, but it'll do for getting underground"  
  
 _"Can't we just beam down ourselves?"_ Atsuya asked.  
  
"Unfortunately, no," Gina shook her head, and looked at a scan screen. "There's some kind of energy interference going on in the cavern beneath the town. It's fluctuating wildly. There's no telling what it'd do to a beam-down attempt. Drilling's our only option."  
  


* * *

  
"Well," Harry said, turning his back to his team for the moment. "If that's how it's gotta be. Let's get drilling." He ran off- "I'll be back with that Zord in a flash!"  
  


* * *

  
  
Garuza and Enter clashed with a flury of strikes- leaping around the place- slashing and dashing every which way. Garuza was conspicuouisly avoiding using his dark energy strikes for some reason.  
  
"Out of my way!" Enter kicked a Bechat that tried to attack him into Garuza's path.  
  
"You will surrender, Enter!" Garuza declared as he lunged in- his blade locking tight against Enter's sword.  
  
"Non non non," Enter taunted, "I just said-" And then with a burst of strange speed, Enter dashed across the room. "Today is not that day!"  
  
"Grrrh!" Garuza clenched his left fist, and ran after Enter- swinging with furious strikes.  
  
"You're avoiding your powers-" Enter observed, dodging with more super speed bursts. "I wonder why?"  
  
"It's none of your concern!" Garuza said, even as the cave trembled slightly, small rocks and dust falling around them.  
  
"Perhaps it has something to do with..." Enter gasped with mocking realization. "Tsk Tsk Tsk, Garuza! To walk into a trap where your own powers could set it off with a dreadful explosion!"  
  
Mabushiina stared on- and realized Enter was right.   
  
Monstones were deeply tied towards the darker powers of Jamental- if this cave full of stones were slumbering... and if Garuza unleashed even a single burst of Jamental...  
  
Mabushiina realized that she had to leave. Immediately.  
  
She turned to run, and nothing got in her way.  
  
Garuza glanced at her exit, and then he looked towards Enter. "Perhaps you may have been onto something."  
  
"Well-" Enter began.  
  
"Or perhaps I was just waiting for collateral damage to be minimized!" Garuza shouted as his sword ignited with dark energy and he slashed it around at the entire cave in a massive circle.  
  
"[Oh Crap-,]" Enter swore before everything went rather bright orange and explosiony.

* * *

Mabushiina shouted as an explosion's outer edges forced her out of the exit of the cavern.  
  
She tumbled on the ground, and only came to a halt when she ran into something solid- Jouki's lower jaw.  
  
The black and purple Mashin eyed her with a crimson eye that seemed much more sorrowful than usual.  
  
"Ow..." Mabushiina said quietly, before picking herself up and dusting herself off. "Uncle Garuza sure does know how to ruin things, doesn't he?"  
  
Jouki's smokestack snorted out a burst of black smoke in agreement.  
  
There was another explosion within the cave- and then Enter and Garuza came flying out from the entrance.  
  
Enter tucked and rolled into a teleport, vanishing from sight, and Garuza, well...  
  
Garuza landed in a super-hero crouching land, and then stood to gaze at the place Enter had vanished from. "Damn it all." He turned to look at Mabushiina, then up at Jouki...  
  
And Garuza left without another word- leaping into Jouki and driving off into another portal.  
  
The cave they'd all exited rumbled ominously, and Mabushiina sighed. "I should go find the Kiramagers and let them know what happened..."

* * *

_**_"MASHIN DRIJAN!"_** _

The Super Heavy Mashin, DRIJAN, sat in the zord bay as Harry arrived- a marvel of technology. Brilliant orange, gleaming translucent, glowing blue drills and windows- silver and white highlights- and a massive cavity in the back for holding a full size Kiramei Stone.  
  
Harry gazed up at it, and laughed. "Now this is a Zord!"  
  
He leaped inside the cockpit, inserted Shiny Breaker into the control slot, and nodded- "Doctor Kae, open the bay doors!"  
  
The Zord-Bay lifted upwards as a forcefield formed in the gap that'd be exposed otherwise- allowing the old entrance to the F302 bay to become open, and allow the orange colored Mashin to drive forwards out through the field, and then rocketed downwards towards the planet below.  
  
"Engage Teleport!" Harry hit a button- and something akin to a hyperspace window briefly opened, allowing Harry's Mashin to teleport through at velocity- drills spinning, and impacted the ground of the the empty fields outside the city of Littner. "DRILLS ENGAGE!"  
  
Mashin Drijan tunneled underground.  
  


* * *

  
 _"GARUZA!"_ Kurantual's face appeared on the screen inside Jouki's cockpit. **"BAD NEWS!"**  
  
"What is it?" Garuza asked.  
  
 _"The Kiramagers have a new mech and they're digging underground to fight the Jamenju!"_  
  
 ** _"OH COME ON!"_** Garuza roared, and detoured through another teleportation tunnel.   
  


* * *

  
The Kiramagers stood in a circle, and Atsuya declared, "Nepeta, Equius, stay here and defeat any tentacle-vines that show up! Tomo, Harley and I will go after Harry."  
  
"Got it!" They nodded.  
  
Morphers were tapped. Mashins were released.  
  
"MASHIIN!" Shovellow, Mahha, and Fiya transformed into their Mashin forms, with their partners leaping inside, and driving down the tunnel formed, following Mashin Drijan down into the depths below.  
  
"Let's GO GO GO to the bottom of the Earth!" Fiya declared.  
  
"We need to hurry and beat this thing!" Mahha added.  
  
 _ **BOOM!**_  
  
[Mashin Drijan burst forth from a cavern wall as they entered the underground space](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei12-seymour5.png).

"Found it!" Harry said.  
  
[Fiya, Shovellow, and Mahha emerged behind the Drilling Mashin a moment later](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei12-seymour6.png).

Atsuya glanced around the cavern they were in with awe... Then-   
  
"There it is!" Tomo shouted.

The four Mashin pulled to a halt, gazing ahead towards the massive Jamenju with some strange green plant thing on its head, spreading tendril vines upwards and into the cavern's roof. As for the Jamenju's type, it was hard to tell in the dark, but Atsuya tentatively pegged its bodyshape as a Shellga type.  
  
"A sprouting mask Jamenju!" Harley realized.   
  
"So that's the true form of all those Venus Flytraps," Tomo observed.  
  
"Time to test this super-mecha's strength," Harry began- and drove Mashin Drijan into the Jamenju's legs- it stubbornly remained rooted, however.  
  
Harry spun Drijan's upper half, grabbing onto some of the vines with the back claw arm, and began to pull, dragging the Jamenju away from the roots it had spread up towards the surface and snapping the things with a massive cry from Harry- "GO FOR A SPIN!"  
  
Carrying the momentum through- Drijan hurled the Jamenju into a far wall.  
  
Everything shook on impact- Atsuya called out- "Try not to hit the walls!"  
  
"Let's finish it before anything else gets damaged!" Fiya said.  
  
"Right!" Atsuya agreed.  
  
 ** __"MASHIN GATTAI!"__**  
  
Shovellow attached to the back of Fiya's ladder arm, which spun around to allow Mahha to drive onto it.   
  
Mahha folded open, and Fiya stood, and _"LAND MAGE!"_ was ready for the fight.  
  
With Land Mage's light casting enough shine onto the Jamenju, Atsuya could see that he was right- it WAS a Shellga type Jamenju- but its mask was so massively oversized that it seemed to have squished the Jamenju down somewhat. For half of its body mass, that Mask certainly didn't make the Jamenju barely any taller than Land Mage itself.  
  
They ran in to fight it- tanking a vine strike- "HOOYAH!" -Then Shovellow punched it. "HIYA!" Fiya kicked it with their left foot. 

And as the fight wore on, Harry watched from inside Drijan... "Alright, time to-"  
  
Jouki's train whistle blew.  
  
Harry looked sharply to his right as Jouki blew in through the tunnel Drijan had drilled, causing a small explosion as he clipped a rock formation and then circled infront- [transforming into Smog Jouki and blocking his path](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei12-seymour9.png).

"What the-" Harry started.  
  
Smog Jouki's chainsaw tail swung into action- crashing into Drijan's drills in an attempt to stop them.  
  
"Get Lost!" Harry shouted, pulling back and raising Drijan's center Drill arm.  
  
Jouki roared- and went in to bite.  
  
"HAH!" Harry pushed forwards.  
  
Drijan's drill and Jouki's teeth met and locked together- stopping everything cold with a shower of sparks.

"N-No way...!" Harry stared on.

A moment later, Garuza stepped out of Jouki, [walking straight onto the halted drill arm](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei12-seymour10.png).   
  
"That's...!" Harry stared upwards.

[Garuza removed his helmet, and began speaking,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei12-seymour11.png) "Greetings, Kiramei Silver. I believe we haven't been properly introduced yet."  
  
"Damn right we haven't," Harry said with a growl. He drew out Shiny Breaker, and climbed out onto the Drill arm. "You're the guy who made a deal with Tavvy's bitch of a mother, right? Garuza?"   
  
Garuza said nothing.  
  
"You're pretty daring to show your face infront of me," Harry said.   
  
"It's only fitting that you gaze upon the face..." Garuza motioned towards his chest, before returning his helmet to his head."Of the one who will send you to your Death!"  
  
Garuza drew his sword, and charged Harry, who raised Shiny Breaker to block the sword strike.  
  
They clashed weapons for a few moments atop the unstable surface of Drijan's arm, [and then both leaped off towards the ground below,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei12-seymour12.png) clashing blades along the way.

They landed, and Garuza slashed his sword along the ground, sending sparks flying Harry's way, who dodge rolled. Then, they came together, clashing weapons just the same.  
  
Meanwhile, the Vine Shellga launched vine punches against Land Mage.  
  
"Like hell we're going to lose to that!" Fiya declared as Land Mage weathered the blows and stood standing. "We're Burning Hot Hot Hot!"  
  
"Ladder Beyond!" Atsuya declared, launching the ladder arm and wedging it into the Jamenju's mask-mouth.  
  
[Land Mage leaped into the air then-](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei12-seymour13.png) Shovellow spinning.

 _ **"FINISHER!"**_ All six roared- _ **"GROUND ROUND SMASH!!"**_  
  
Shovellow burst through the Jamenju with ease, exploding it.

The Jamenju's explosion roared in the background, illuminating everything as Harry leaped at Garuza.  
  
"Maybe we should call it for today?" Garuza asked.  
  
"FAT CHANCE!" Harry's drill came down regardless.  
  
Garuza dodge-rolled as he avoided the strike, and he eyed Jouki, aiming to get out of here before--  
  
Land Mage grabbed the Dino-Train from behind, ripping it off of Drijan.  
  
"NO!" Garuza started- only to have to dodge more of Harry's furious strikes.  
  
"Esprez!"/"Drybe!" Harley and Atsuya called out, spinning their Morphers.  
  
"MASHIN EXPRESS!" Esprez called out as she transformed into the Train Zord. "JOUKIIIIIII!" She shined her beams of light down upon the Train mashin, restrained within Land Mage's grasp and not fighting back at all.

"Get me out of this nightmare!" Jouki shouted.  
  
"NO!!" Garuza slashed at Harry, and then kicked him away before gathering a burst of darkness and hurled it upwards at Jouki. "YOU ARE MINE!"  
  
The dark energy of Jamental clashed with Esprez's restoring light and Jouki suddenly roared in pain as the dark Aura overwhelmed him and exploded outwards- sending Land Mage and Mashin Express flying away.  
  
Garuza leaped into Jouki and transformed him back into a train before driving out through the entry tunnel and teleporting away.  
  
A moment later, [Land Mage got back to its feet and stood next to Drijan](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei12-seymour15.png).

"We almost had him!" Atsuya stared on.   
  
Harry snarled and glared at the floor. "Damn it!"  
  


* * *

  
A short while later, Drijan resided in the Beltus' Zord bay as work arms did their job on the middle drill arm.   
  
Harry glared out the lounge room's window, his wolf-ears flaring in annoyance. "That Garuza person is infuriating."  
  
"Tell me about it," Esprez grumbled as polishing wheels ran across her giant-stone-form's surface. "We almost had him! If we could have just...! A few more seconds was all we needed!"  
  
"Repairs to both halves of Mashin Express should be finished by the end of day tomorrow," Gina said, gazing at a screen on her tablet. "The cracking was very minor in comparison to the last major incident."  
  
"What about Drijan?" Harry asked.   
  
"Might be a few days longer," Gina answered. "Looks like Jouki's bite stripped several large gears that need to be refabricated and replaced." She sighed. "That's what I get for skimping on the Trinium aloys, I suppose."  
  
"Still," Nepeta said, crossing her arms as she slumped into a chair. "Atleast we stopped the Jamenju."  
  
"There is that," Atsuya nodded.  
  
"Hopefully Kurantula and Garuza will cool their ambitions for a few days until the repairs are done," Equius said, taunting fate.  
  
"Everyone!" Mabushiina suddenly entered the room. "Big trouble! I just saw Enter and Garuza fighting today!"  
  
"That's... not exactly big trouble," Harley started. "Unless it's where they were fighting that's the problem?"  
  
"It was a Mass Crystalian Grave that Monstones were growing in!" Mabushiina answered.  
  
"Okay, that's a big problem," Harley relented.   
  
"Day's not over yet, then," Tomo said, sighing. 

* * *

[_**KIRAFUL! MIRACLE!! KIRAMAGER!!!**_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzcI8KPeZd0)  
  
"A new Rookie appears!" Shovellow said, approaching Drijan. "if you want, I can put you at the center of my Loving Tomo Sentai!"  
  
Drijan, as part of the testing programs focusing on its repairs, began backing up rather quickly.  
  
"Wait- Rookie, where are you going!? COME BAAAACK!!!" Shovellow shouted.  
  


* * *

  
 **NEXT KIRAMAGER!**  
  
"WOOO WOOO!" the Jamenshi shouted.  
  
"Finally, Friends, Dus!" a Kiramei stone said.  
  
"CHOO CHOOOOO!" The Jamenshi shouted again.  
  
"We've gotta get Jouki back this time for SURE!" Harley stated.  
  
 _ **NEXT EPISODE: 13: Dust On the Smokestacks! It's a Train Robbery! (DUS!)**_  
  
"Let's sparkle next time too!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo. That was a bog standard episode translation... save for that bit of original footage at the end there. The Rangers ALMOST GOT JOUKI again! They're being serious about this Train Hijacking thing, that's for sure. Heheheh...
> 
> Yes, that was an original 'screenshot' I did based off of the Minipla kits. I may end up doing a few more in the future. We'll see. Hehe... 
> 
> Anyways, for the story I've got planned, after ALL the build up I've done to build Jouki as a character... I couldn't just keep leaving him in Garuza's control without the Rangers trying to seriously steal him back outside of mid battle attacks. 
> 
> And they may not have succeeded this time... but as for next time? Well...
> 
> Speaking of next time, yes, indeed:
> 
> MSK: 01X13: Dust On the Smokestacks! It's a Train Robbery! (DUS!) 
> 
> ...Is the next episode! It's also Duston's introduction episode! See you all Monday!


	14. MSK: 01X13: Dust On the Smokestacks! It's a Train Robbery! (DUS!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Highway Robbery I tells Ya!!! IT'S HIGHWAY ROBB-- Wait, what? It's a train robbery? WHAT!?
> 
> ....
> 
> ...
> 
> ..
> 
> IT'S A TRAIN ROBBERY, I TELLS YA!!!!!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Bath House  
> Train themed Jamenshi  
> Talk of Ghosts  
> Collapsing Building  
> TEAMWORK!!!  
> Picture Embedding and Linkage.
> 
> ...And it looks like Team Rocket's blasting off agaaaaaaaiiin...!
> 
> Also, someone gets crushed under a giant foot. Just so you're aware.

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 28TH, 2012.**  
  
With a whining keen, a crimson colored wormhole rushed past our meta-textual fourth wall screen, twisting, turning, warping around, and then exiting on the random, uninhabited mining world that Mabushiina had directed the Kiramagers towards.  
  
The six Kiramagers, suited up, exited the Stargate on that world, and began heading in the direction Mabushiina had directed them in.  
  
"Mabushiina said it was a walk in that direction...?" Atsuya pointed at a road.  
  
"I'll check," Harry said, spinning his morpher. **__"KIRAMEI SEARCHING!"__ **it dazzled its melody for a moment, then projected a compass. _**_"DISCOVERY!"_**_ "Yep," Harry said with a nod. "That direction."  
  
"Nepeta, Equius," Atsuya started, "Guard the Gate incase someone else comes through, and keep an eye out incase Garuza comes by Jouki."  
  
Those two nodded in afirmation, and the other four headed down the road towards the cave.  
  
It wasn't long before they came upon the cave entrance, outside of which a small group of what appeared to be Venjix Grinders loading rock into a cart.  
  
"Uguts!" One pointed at the Kiramagers, and the whole groop took their cart and absconded through a teleport.  
  
"Cowards...!" Tomo started.  
  
"Keep looking out here incase there are more," Atsuya decided. "Harry and I will go inside."  
  
"Got it," Harley nodded.  
  
Red and Silver Kiramagers ran into the cavern that had once been a burial site, and shuddered as they felt a chill run through them.  
  
It wasn't a temperature difference, though. The cave was dark, hard to see in, and honestly, very uneven in its terrain. And it was those first two points that was bad.  
  
"There's no orange glow anywhere," Atsuya said. "This place is empty..."  
  
"Either the Monstone crystals blew up with Garuza's attack, or..." Harry activated his morpher again. It scanned the cave...  
  
 _ **_"DISCOVERY!"_**_ it then narrowed down at a bag half burried under some fallen rocks.  
  
"A bag...?" Harry asked.   
  
They removed the rocks from the bag, and then opened it.

"AH! Finally! Do you know how heavy all those rocks were, Dus!?" The deep blue Kiramei Stone asked from within the glass case it was stuck in.  
  
"A Kiramei Stone??" Harry and Atsuya asked at the same time.

* * *

**"When people Shine, Miracles are Born!" Esprez Narrated.**   
  
**"Kiramental- the proof of Warriors who can change the future!"**   
  
**"KIRAMEI, GO!!!!" The voice on the Morphers exclaimed.**   
  
[ **MASHIN SENTAI: KIRAMAGER** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffuDLZEVUnY)

* * *

"Woah! What a relief to be among friends again, Dus!" The deep blue Kiramei stone said, wobbling on the desk-table in the Beltus' Kiramager Lounge. "That creep who locked me in a box was annoying enough but then he left us in a cave to get burried by falling rocks! How rude, Dus."  
  
"This is Dus, or Dusty, Duster, Duston, whichever he prefers at the time," Heliko introduced the stone to the Kiramagers, hovering over the untransformed stone in her Helicopter form. "He's basically one of our younger siblings!"  
  
"So somewhere between you guys and Carry and the others?" Nepeta asked.  
  
"Yea yea!" Heliko nodded.  
  
"It's great to have another friend back!" Jetta said, circling the room. "WOOOOSHA!"  
  
"I was callin' myself Dus for a while when I woke up, but I think Duston's probably a nicer name for now, Dus!" the new Kiramei stone said, renaming himself towards being Duston. "It fits better with everyone else's names right now, that's for sure!"  
  
"Duston it is, then," Atsuya smiled.   
  
"Duston," Tomo started, "what's with the other stone you were with?"  
  
"Ah, the marbled one, Dus?" Duston asked. "No clue! That Creepy guy had me in the glass box you pulled me out of when I woke up. For a while that's all there was, then he pulled out this marbled one in a box too and took us both to that cave. I dunno what he planed on doing with us, though, Dus..." Duston paused. "Ah, but there's a weird thing too. I swear that marbled stone isn't sentient. Just a bunch of blue diamond shoved together for some reason."  
  
"Our new friend's right about that," Gina Kae said, entering the lounge, holding the marbled stone. "I ran every scan that I've run on the White stone and the other Mashins when we unearthed them." She held up the stone, before placing it on the table next to Duston. "This marvelous little beauty is ouce for ouce almost 90% Blue DIamond Kiramei Stone, with the remainder being White Kiramei stone similar to Esprez's makeup, all compressed down to an insane ratio."  
  
"How compressed are we talking?" Harley asked, kneeling down to gaze at the marbled stone. "Like... Mahha compressed down to this size, or Fiya compressed down to this size?"  
  
"Probably about as big as Fiya or Jouki," Gina answered. "It's hard to get an accurate reading."  
  
Equius whistled lowly, "That's a lot of Blue Diamond."  
  
"The single largest deposit we've ever seen," Gina said, marveling at the stone, "and it's currently about as small as any Kiramei Stone normally compresses without pushing it further."  
  
"So if that thing suddenly decided to expand to full size, we'd rather have it in the Zord Bay, right?" Fiya asked, shifting from gemstone form to mashin form to drive up close to the mass of Blue Diamond..  
  
"Definitely," Gina nodded.  
  
Everyone stared at the marbled stone for several long moments. Then, Fiya looked towards Heliko, and said, "Well, I think this might solve a few of our problems with Jouki."  
  
"You think it's a giant Sub-in?" Heliko asked.  
  
"None of us have ever seen anything like this before," Fiya said. "It certainly had to have come from during or after Crystalia's fall, rather than before it."  
  
"...Crystalia Fell, Dus?" Duston suddenly asked, and everyone looked towards him.  
  
"Ah, yeah... there's that to talk about too," Mahha said quietly.   
  


* * *

  
Nepeta and Atsuya had temporarily retreated back to Nepeta's house for the time being, while Fiya and Heliko brought Duston up to speed.  
  
Atsuya was busy doodling out Mashin form designs in the mean time, eyeing the deep blue stone and the paper in alternating passes.  
  
"MASHIIIN!" Carry cried out as the Sub-in transformed around her into her child-form, grinning brightly.   
  
Of course, Carry was with them just the same.  
  
"C'mon, Carry-chan, let's help make dinner!" Nepeta smiled, leading the young Mashin into the kitchen.  
  
"Kaaay!" Carry answered brightly, and then started singing- "Pancakes! Pancakes! Dinner time pancakes!"  
  
Atsuya smiled, and then turned towards the catchup conversation.  
  
"What!? We were in some creepy underground vault!?" Duston asked, shocked. "How, Dus!? Last I remember we were on Crystalia!"  
  
"That's something we're still working out," Fiya admitted. "Our running lead theory is that it's ourselves doing some time travel. But, we're not certain that's the case yet."  
  
"Namely they won't let us time travel without good reason!" Heliko said with a huff.   
  
"It's not like we can just hitch the first solar flare back in time," Fiya said. "There isn't one for months yet still, at this point. Not one that'll take us back to the right time, at any rate."  
  
"I know that," Heliko huffs. "But there's other things too, aren't there?"  
  
Atsuya was drawn away from their conversation when there a quickly stated "Ah, Carry, don't grip it so-- EEP!!" accompanied with a loud pop from the kitchen. He got up and headed over and found Nepeta and Carry covered in flour because a bag that Carry had been trying to open did so with explosive force.   
  
The floor, too, was also covered in flour.  
  
Nepeta blinked her eyes clear, then looked to Atsuya, "Hey, uh... could you get the vacuum so we could clean this up before my Moms get home?"  
  
"Got it!" Atsuya nodded, and went to go find the cordless vacuum cleaner.  
  


* * *

  
"Halloween is coming up soon," Kurantula said, pacing around the meeting table that he and the other Generals assigned with chasing down Enter were using as their meeting room. "I've got a plan that should work perfectly to draw our quarry out!"  
  
Garuza leaned against a wall in the back area, and began tuning out Kurantula's plan, instead focusing on the more important details.  
  
Enter had stolen away with quite a few surviving Monstone deposits that hadn't exploded within the cave when he'd attacked like he had. His minions had worked quickly and quietly during the mean time that he and the Kiramagers had been away dealing with other things.  
  
"And that's why we'll be using Smog Jouki to-"  
  
"Rejected," Garuza snapped to attention immediately. "Sorry, Kurantula, but if the goal is to draw Enter out, using Jouki will just draw the Kiramagers to us instead."  
  
And he was NOT going to risk them trying to steal his Jouki YET AGAIN.  
  
Kurantula pouted. "Fine. We'll do it on foot, then."  
  
Garuza went back to brooding, even as Necrolai sent him a scathing look. He ignored her, even as Kurantula went onto the next part of the plan that involved her own actions.   
  
Lothor, meanwhile, just sat in his chair, smirking, and occasionally sipping on a very fruity looking straw in a cocount cup with a pastel little umbrella sticking out of the side. Garuza wondered how the bastard seemed so confident, and decided it was probably because he felt it was earned due to subverting an entire team of Rangers.

* * *

 _ **EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 29TH, 2012.**_  
  
"CHOOOOOOOOOOOO!" came the cry of a whistle as the suited up bunch of Tomo, Harley, Equius, and Nepeta came running up towards a place on Earth C where they'd been directed to as part of a predicted attack.  
  
"Is it Jouki?" Tomo asked, gazing into a tunnel where a red light was gleaming.  
  
"CHOO! CHOOO! CHOOOO!" But no, it wasn't.[ It was a Jamenshi wearing a massive metal mask fashioned after a train engine](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei13-sljam1.png).

"NOT JOUKI!" Harley shouted as the train jamen came running right at them-- And then blew past them with a burst of smoke that made them cough and choke up.  
  
"CHOO! Choooo!" The Jamenshi came to a stop next to a bench with signs and some other supplies waiting for him. "WHoooo! Steam Loco Jamen-Sama, pulling in!" He exchanged an empty shoulder bag for another, filled one, and then started gourging himself on a large crate full of coal.  
  
Equius and Harley came rushing in with their swords- and the Jamenshi dodged their strikes and shoved them away before tanking a few shots from Tomo and Nepeta. He then charged forwards towards them, aiming to--

"WOOPS!"[ he ground to a halt, and stated-](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei13-sljam2.png) "Sorry! I don't have time to play with you today! I've got a job and that job is DELIVERANCE!" he said, and then started running the other way- still on the route he was running to begin with. "NEXT AREA! NOW DEPARTING! FULL SPEED AHEAD!"  
  
"What the...?" Nepeta stared on as the Jamenshi ran off. She tapped her Morpher. "Atsuya! Jamenshi's coming your way!"  
  


* * *

  
  
Atsuya was waiting near a garbage truck of a hue'd color similar to Duston's gemstone color. This much was obvious because Duston was hovering around the truck, observing it even as the Red Kiramager was waiting for his quarry to head his way.  
  
 _ **"CHOO CHOOOO!!!"**_  
  
And then in came the Steam Train Jamenshi, rushing past people at ludicrous speeds.  
  
Atsuya got thrown aside as he tried to stop the Jamenshi- and poor Duston had the misfortune of getting clipped by the top of the Jamen's head, nearly sending him flying into the garbage truck's crusher maw.  
  
"GOTCHA!" Harley zipped in and caught the stone in mid air- diving towards safety and landing in a pile of abandoned trash bags marked "newspapers."  
  
The other Kiramagers came running by, chasing after the Jamenshi, a moment later.  
  
"Damn he's fast!" Tomo complained as they ran by.  
  
"Are you okay, Duston?" Harley asked of the stone in her hands.  
  
"That was so scarry, Dus!" Duston started whining. "I was so scared, Dus!!"  
  
"Uhhh-! Here!" Harley handed the Kiramei stone over to Atsuya, and rushed off after the others.   
  
"Ah-!" Atsuya started stroking at the Gemstone's side. "It's okay! It'll be alright!"  
  


* * *

"CHOOOOOOOOO! CHOOOOOOOO!" The Train Jamenshi came running along, and then...  
  
Harry stood in its path, unmorphed.  
  
"GET OUTA MY WAAAAAY!" The Train declared.  
  
Harry nonchalantly tapped his morpher- __"SHINE!"_ _ -and then spun the wheel as he ran forwards- "KIRAMEI CHANGE!"  
  
He threw a hand forwards and grabbed the Jamenshi by the face as it was suddenly stopped and smoke obscured everything for a moment as a silver flash of light overcame Harry with an **__"OH SHINE!!"__**

When the smoke cleared...

Kiramei Silver stood there then, grasping the Jamen's mask.  
  
"-W-What!?"   
  
The Train tried to push ahead and knock Harry's hands away, but kept getting stopped as Harry just alternated hands. Next came a series of blocked punches-  
  
"SHINING!" and then Harry kicked the Jamenshi backwards.  
  
The others showed up then-  
  
"GO!" Tomo and Nepeta started shooting, shots which bounced off harlmessly from the Jamenshi's arms. Harley and Equius ran in next to try and hit the train...  
  
To no real luck, Harry observed, and readied Shiny Breaker. "Everyone, Dodge on my Mark!" He tapped the button twice. **__"ONE DRILL BLAST!"__**  
  
The other Kiramagers glanced his way- "Wait!" Tomo shouted.  
  
 _ **_"GOING IN!"_** _the device called out, and Harry swung the jackhammer towards the ground.  
  
"WHAT SIGNAL!?" Equius shouted as the Kiramagers flung themselves away as the blast smashed through the ground and into the Jamenshi.  
  
 _ **_"ONE JOB DONE!"_** _The Breaker announced as everyone hit the dirt.  
  
"HEY!" Tomo shouted, getting to their feet. "Watch where you're aiming that!"  
  
"Uh..." Harry wasn't sure what to make of the scene as Tomo approached him.  
  
"You almost hit us! We need to rehearse the timing on that before we do something like that!" Tomo started.   
  
As Tomo and Harry started to argue over that, the Train Jamen got to his feet, saying, "Well, I need to get back on schedule! LATER! CHOO CHOOOOO!" And then he ran off past Tomo and Harry.  
  
"I did warn you-!" Harry started.  
  
"We haven't practiced dodging that yet!" Tomo stopped- and then they and Harry turned, watching the Jamenshi run off into the distance.  
  
Atsuya ran up to join them at that moment, as the others got up to their feet. "Ah... geeze... it got away, didn't it?" He demorphed, and approached. "Everyone, are you alright?"  
  
"AH!" Harley pointed. "Your face is all smokey!"  
  
Atsuya touched at his face and pulled his hand away, finding it covered in smoke. "Ah... Geeze... it got through the helmet?"  
  
The others demorophed as well, and found much to their dismay that yes, they too were covered in soot and black smudges.  
  
"That soot really is something," Nepeta remarked, wiping a solid smudge of black off of her horn, which really shouldn't have been covered given that it'd been dimensionally morph-folded away during the fight.   
  
"I... need a shower," Equius shuddered.  
  
Harry looked himself over, and sighed. "We should get this shit off incase it's toxic."  
  
"So, how do we do that?" Harley asked.  
  
Harry hung his head. "I know... a bathhouse around here."  
  


* * *

  
Said bathhouse was run by a pair of kindly old ladies, A Carapacian woman and a Violet blooded sea-dweller woman, and, as Harry explained on the way, it was one his mothers had taken him and his sister to on many occasions when they were kids growing up.   
  
The team divided up 3 to each side of the bath house, as per its rules regarding presenting genders.  
  
"So this is basically your home town we're in?" Atsuya asked, sitting in a bath pool after having gotten most of the soot off of his face.  
  
"One of them," Harry answered, sitting in another bath pool nearby. "My parents owned a few places that we bounced around in. Being the kids of two of the gods who created our universe could be... taxing. Sometimes."  
  
"I can only imagine," Equius grumbled, sitting instead on a stool as she scrubbed away at soot that covered quite a lot of his body in comparison to how covered Atsuya and Harry had gotten. "My parents weren't quite so famous because of the Rebellion, but they were famous bounty hunters, back in the day. Still, others outshone them so I got to have a fairly normal childhood in comparison to others, I suppose, who had the fame hanging over their heads."  
  
"June, Rose, Harley, and Tomo, right?" Harry guessed.  
  
"Nepeta too," Equius nodded.   
  
"Right," Atsuya said, "one of her moms is General Okurii Leijon, and the other is Marsti Houtek, one of the Rebellion's best unknown doctors."  
  
"How's that track?" Harry asked, frowning.  
  
"She went under an alias for most of the Rebellion's duration," Equius answered.   
  
"Ah," Harry nodded.  
  
"I feel kind of like a nobody in comparison," Atsuya admitted. "My parents aren't anybody galactically known! And honestly, miss Emmagan is more famous than they are even in Athosian culture because of who she worked with and what she's done for our people."  
  
"She's basically the president of your world, right?" Harry asked.  
  
Atsuya nodded. "Something like that, I suppose. Nothing quite so grandiose of a title, though. Not AS many responsibilities either, since she shares the work with other people."  
  
"By the way," Equius started suddenly. "I forget if it's come up before, or if I missed the explanation, but you have some incredible strength, Harry. My own is something of a freak mutation compounding the extreme strength the Indigo cast is most often known for. So I apologize if this comes off as rude, but... How did...?"  
  
"Honestly can't remember if I explained or not either," Harry shrugged, and leaned back into the pool. "To TL;DR it, though... well, my moms had me and Sally through Ectobiology. And one of them decided to go all in on the custom genetics to try and whittle down side-effects from the dog stuff." He motioned at his ears. "Didn't quite work out so well. Sally's still alergic to chocolate like dogs are, at any rate. But both of us have super strength as a result..." he frowned. "I feel like I answered this somewhere already."  
  
"I probably just forgot, then," Equius said, scrubbing at some soot on one of his feet. "...Damned Soot. It really sticks to everything."  
  
"I wonder what that Jamenshi's plan is?" Atsuya asked.  
  


* * *

  
"Why make a Steam Locomotive Jamenshi anyways?" Tomo asked- before humming in slight pleasure as Harley scrubbed at some soot between their wings. "Ooh. There. Yes. There's something itchy right thereee..."  
  
"It's probably something to do with his destination," Nepeta guessed. "He did seem to be going somewhere in a hurry." She scrubbed at her hair with some shampoo, then, reached for a bucket and doused herself in fresh water.  
  
But a few minutes later, a very much cleaned up and redressed Nepeta exited the one side of the Bathhouse to find Equius and Atsuya pouring over a map.  
  
"Nepeta, do you remember what spot the Jamenshi first appeared in?" Atsuya asked without even needing to look up.  
  
"Yeah," Nepeta approached the map and pointed to a spot. "Here's the first report." She frowned. "He made a turn here..." She followed along, dotting her finger across the map, marking places even as a refreshed Tomo and Harley rejoined them.  
  
"...Nothing really stands out," Equius frowned. "It's a weird sort of crescent shape so far. Could be anything."  
  
"Where's Harry?" Harley asked, glancing around.  
  
"Ah," Atsuya scratched at the back of his head. "He turned up the temperature of the water and said he was going to think something through on his own for a while."  
  
"It got too hot even for us," Equius said, frowning.  
  
"Well he sure doesn't work well with others, does he?" Tomo asked, frowning.  
  
"C'mon, Tomo," Harley nudged their arm. "Don't talk like that, we've been over this with Aunt Claire."  
  
"I know, but," Tomo sighed. "He didn't want to be on his own sister's team. Now he's trying to work with us and going off on his own with everything. It's like he wants the team name without the team."  
  
"Ah, Harry's just like that," said an elderly seadwelling troll woman as she walked out from a back door. "Has been since he was a kid. Quite the drama kid, that's for sure."  
  
"Ma'am," Equius stood to bow to her. "Thank you for letting us in before opening time."  
  
"It's no problem," the woman smiled. "Manager Springs was thinking of shaking things up soon anyways. We've been loosing business since a couple of layabout ghosts started taking up residence in our boiler room last month. Can't quite chase 'em off, not yet at any rate. Says they'll leave the minute the building goes up in flames or some random garbage like that. HAH! Don't tell them, sweetheart," She leaned in close to Equius and whispered conspiratorially, "Manager Springs and I have been thinking of demolishing the place and rebuilding it for years anyways! Hoo hoo! They're giving us the excuse the longer this keeps up!"  
  
Equius smiled, and mimed locking a key to his lips and throwing it away. "As long as it's no trouble."  
  
"Ghosts?" Atsuya asked.   
  
"Ah, yeah," the elderly woman nodded. "A few years back we started having strange storms that began dumping countless ghosts onto our world. Remnants and survivors of culled timelines from the many SBURB and SGRUB sessions that spawned our universe, lost in the Furthest Ring until they were sent our way. Most of them find ways to integrate into society again, others become lazy bones who go around and haunt places until someone gets fed up and kicks 'em out."  
  
"That's really weird," Atsuya said.   
  
"You're tellin' me, sweetie!" The woman laughed. "Then we got relocated to this Galaxy in a big ol' Windy Zap, and now we don't have to deal with more ghosts than our world can manage, atleast. Oh! That reminds me of a story!" She giggled. "When Harry and his Sister were here one time, we had this ghostly woman come in trying to buy a skateboard from us! A skateboard, at a bath house! Can you imagine? Needless to say she was VERY stoned out of her mind! Not that we don't mind that sort of thing, but Harry, oh, bless his heart, just took to the counter and pretended to be the most flaboyant little skateboard salesman I've ever seen and told her that we were sold out! Talked her into taking a bath and then gave her directions to the actual skateboard shop down the road!"  
  
Before they could talk further- the Kiramager's morphers chimed.  
  
 _"Rangers,"_ Okurii radioed, " _the road from District G23 to H32 is turning black with smoke we can't pierce our sensors through, and it's growing outwards in a specific direction. The Jamenshi was also spotted in district A20 and District F31. But he's continuing to run off without doing anything but scarring people."_  
  
Nepeta quickly began sketching onto the map. "G23... H32... A20, F31 were next... "  
  
They all stared at the loop that had formed.  
  
"It's a Magic Circle attack," Atsuya realized. "Like on Old Athos."  
  
"Wait," Equius pointed at a spot. "The Bathhouse we're in is right in its path!"  
  
There was a rumble, a shake and a tumble, and then the Jamen's voice cut into the air- _**"THE EXPRESS S.L. JAMEN-SAMA IS ARRIVING SOON!"**_  
  
The old lady had a sparkle in her eyes then, and she started laughing. "Oh! Best timing ever! If he demolishes the place we get insurance money for rebuilding!"  
  
"Everyone, transform!" Tomo declared.

* * *

Kurantula giggled to himself. "When SL Jamen completely surrounds the area with black smoke, it'll turn into a vortex that'll pull in every single scrap of Digital And Mechanical Technology on the planet into its orbit!" He threw his hands out to the side, "And if it works, we'll send in the other's forces to root Enter out from where-ever he's hiding and he'll be pulled in and brought to his knees before Lord Gilgamesh!"  
  
"Not a bad strategy," Garuza said, observing the progress. "He's even ignored the Kiramagers so far."  
  
"We'd have been done much sooner if you'd let us use Jouki," Kurantula turned towards Garuza.  
  
Garuza said nothing but a quiet "tch."  
  


* * *

  
"CHOO CHOO CHOOO!" The Jamenshi ran away from the crumbling bath house as- **__"LET'S SPARKLE!"__** -five bursts of colored light leaped out of the building, each of the core five Kiramagers carrying a worker of the Bathhouse with them.  
  
"What the hell!?" Tomo shouted- hands gripping their head as the Jamenshi came to a stop behind them for another resupply.  
  
"Ahahahah! The Insurance Money! It's all ours!" The eldery alternian lady was laughing to the Carapacian woman that had also been carried out.   
  
The Carapacian signed back, [Now we can rebuild and shoo out those pesky ghosts!]  
  
"Harry was still inside!" Nepeta realized.  
  
Some of the debris shifted, and then burst away in that moment, and Harry, clad only in a towel around his waist, climbed out with a scowl.  
  
"That Jamenshi ruined my bath," he said simply, gazing at the Train Jamenshi and starting to walk towards it. "Kiramei Change!" He tapped at his wrist and spun for the wheel...  
  
But as I just said, Harry was only wearing a towel. His Kiramei Changer was NOT on his wrist.  
  
"Ah..." Harry turned back towards the ruined building. "My morpher was still in the changing room."  
  
"It's burried under the rubble!?" The other Kiramagers shouted at once.  
  
Duston even decaptchalogued himself from Atsuya's morpher- "How could you do that, Dus!?"  
  
The Jamenshi watched this failure happen, and he laughed. "You can't stop me anyways! I'm almost done!" And then he ran off with a "Choo Choo!"  
  
"We'll go on ahead!" Tomo decided. "You guys dig this thing up and find that Morpher!" They spun their Morpher, and Shovellow and Lifton decaptchaloged- transforming and growing to a size that would be befitting of the normal sized vehicles their Mashin forms were based on.  
  
"You help too, Carry!" Nepeta spun her Morpher- releasing Carry, who transformed similarly.  
  
"We'll dig it up at full speed!" Carry declared.  
  
"Heave Ho!" Shovellow declared. "Let's get to work!"  
  
"Lift a lotta rubble!!" Lifton shouted.  
  
The Kiramagers ran off as Harry stood there, watching as the Mashins quickly went to work moving the debris away from the ruined building.  
  
Harry just took a moment to breathe, and then he admitted to himself... "I was so careless."

* * *

"CHOOOO!"  
  
"STOOOOOP!"

[Harley chased after the Jamenshi at her full running speed,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei13-sljam4.png) but even that was barely keeping pace with the speedy train Jamenshi. The others were lagging behind her by a bit as well.  
  
Harley drew her sword- and FLICKER ZAP- Teleported ahead, catching up to the Jamenshi and slashing at his knees.  
  
"OW!" The Jamenshi rolled to a halt.  
  
"That'll stop you, y'stupid runaway train!" Harley said, huffing for breath.  
  
Everyone caught up as the Jamenshi tried to get to his feet, pinching at the nose on the face of his mask.  
  
"GAH!" He spoke, with a highpitched voice. "It's a serious crime to derail a train!" He opened a bag he'd fetched at one point, and retrieved a few pieces of coal.  
  
The back of his mask opened, and he threw the coal in before they closed again.  
  
"POWER MAXIMUM! SPEED LIMIT LIFTED!" The Jamenshi cried out- powering up obviously.  
  
The Kiramagers lined up to stop his wild charge, but they weren't strong enough even as a collective group to stop the thing.  
  
"Hahaha! This will be an easy victory without that silver guy!" The train taunted.  
  
"LIKE HELL!" Equius broke free from the lineup, spun his morpher, and Rolland decaptchalogued- already transforming into a hammer form with a "Transformarolla!" and landed in Equius' hand.  
  
As the line of Kiramagers tried to keep the train from going ahead, Equius leaped forwards- Rolland glowing with sparkling light.  
  
"ROLLAND RAISING!" He shouted- bringing the hammer down on the back of the Jamenshi's head- smashing the doors in and wedging them tightly closed.  
  
"OOF!" The Jamenshi stumbled, and Atsuya had a moment of realization as the Kiramagers dodged around him, letting him blow past them and tumble into a trashcan.  
  
Trash. Garbage Truck Pickup. Duston!!  
  
"EUREKAING!" he shouted. "I'll Be Right back!"  
  
And then he ran off.  
  
Equius chuckled, lifting Rolland over his shoulder. "Let's see how this technique pays off, shall we, Rolland?"  
  
"Smashalot!" Rolland agreed enthusiastically.

* * *

"MASHIIIIIIN, DUS!" the sudden shout accompanied a burst of transformational light that had the Mashin and Harry pausing in their work as Atsuya rolled up, holding onto the side of Duston, who had taken on a Mashin form of a Garbage Truck.

"Everyone!" Atsuya waved at them. "I've got an idea!"  
  
"Duston! Looking good!" Shovellow greeted.  
  
"Wow wow! Very sparkly!" Carry appraised.  
  
"Thank you, Dus!" Duston said, rolling to a halt. "Now I'm Mashin Duston! Let's do it, Dus!"  
  
"Load everything into Duston's compresser!" Atsuya declared. "Take this building and make it all one dense clump of mineral! Make it like the Blue Diamond Stone! As much as can be made tiny!"  
  
"Liftalot!!" Lifton lifted the debris onto Carry- 

["Carryglitter!" who brought it over to Shovellow- ](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei13-teamwork1.png)

"Heave Ho!! To Work We GO!" -who fed it into Duston.  
  
"Compressing it tight, Dus!" Duston said.  
  
"What's the point of this?" Harry asked.  
  
"Equius jammed a pressure point on the Jamenshi's mask by bashing it in. If we can jam the other pressure point in the smoke exhaust..." Atsuya trailed off, and mimed an explosion.  
  
"I see!" Harry started. "And if we can jam the Jamenshi's spout, then he can't spew out smog everywhere!"  
  
"Exactly!" Atsuya nodded. "It'll shut down the magic circle!"  
  
It wasn't long before the debris was all cleared, and Harry found his morpher on the ground, and placed it back onto his wrist.  
  
"Atsuya, Harry!" Mahha drove up then. "Lady Harley sent me to collect you two! Get in, quick!"  
  
"Everyone, down to size and let's go!" Atsuya called to the members of the Shovellow Squad.  
  
"Gotcha!" The four Mashin cried out, shrinking down and zipping over to join them.

* * *

"GAH!" Equius hit a tree, dropping the weapon sized Rolland, who transformed back into Mashin form with a yelp.  
  
"I SAID!" The Jamenshi roared- and Tomo hit another nearby tree. "PLEASE STAND!" He threw Nepeta and Harley away from him next. "BEHIND THE WHITE LINE!!"  
  
"What power..." Equius said, motioning to check on Harley. "Even with all four of us combining our strength..."  
  
"This is impossible...!" Harley started, punching a fist to the ground.  
  
"Full speed ahead!" The Jamenshi decided, turning back towards his route--  
  
 ** _"MAHHA!"_**  
  
And then Mahha drove across his path, dropping off the morphed Kiramei Silver along with Kiramei Red- who specifically was wielding Mashin Carry's shield form in his left hand, and had his regular Kiramei Sword in his right hand.  
  
Harry, on the other hand, went in unarmed- speeding in and punching away at the Jamenshi- they exchanged blows, and then- "SHINING!" -Harry's counter punch sent the Train Jamenshi stumbling backwards.  
  
His feet got caught up in his cape as he tumbled to the ground, and before the Jamenshi could recover, Atusya sped in with a **__"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"__ **his sword glowing.  
  
"HIIIYA!" He seemed to be swinging- and the Jamenshi quickly tried springing to his feet again- seemingly to dodge the sword strike...  
  
But it was a feint. And the glow vanished from the sword and transferred to Carry at the last possible moment, meaning that when the Jamenshi ran face first into Carry's shield, it was with enough force that the Train once again derailed and went flying backwards into a brick wall that colapsed onto him a moment later.  
  
Atsuya dismissed his sword and let Carry transform back to a Mashin form as he regrouped with the others.  
  
"Everyone alright?" He asked.  
  
"We're good," Harley said with a nod.  
  
"Everyone," Harry turned towards the team. "I'm sorry about earlier. I wasn't thinking properly and rushed in without planning which could have hurt you all seriously. Please forgive me." He gave a bow. "And let's fight together properly."  
  
"Shall we do the usual thing then?" Nepeta asked, tilting her head to the side.  
  
"Yeah," Harry agreed with a nod and a clapping hand jesture that made a sparkling noise. "Let's doing that thing together!"  
  
"Damn it," Tomo shook their head. "Fine then! Let's do it!"  
  
Carry and Rolland cheered from the background- "DO IT! DO IT!"  
  
The Jamenshi unburried himself from the rocks. "Owowowow... Now what do I...?" He stopped as he saw the lined up Kiramagers.  
  
"INSPIRATION SPARKLING!" Atsuya lead off with a backflip.[ "KIRAMEI RED!"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/kiramei-kirameired.png)

"GUIDED SHOOTING!" Tomo continued the roll call with their aiming pose. ["KIRAMEI YELLOW!"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/kiramei-kirameiyellow.png)

"RUSH LIGHTNING!" Harley continued. ["KIRAMEI GREEN!"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/kiramei-kirameigreen.png)

"SHARPENED UNSTOPPABLE!" Equius cut through the air with his arm. ["KIRAMEI BLUE!"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/kiramei-kirameiblue.png)

"DEFT INCREDIBLE!" Nepeta flowed through her poses. ["KIRAMEI PINK!"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/kiramei-kirameipink.png)

"PIERCING SHINING!" Harry finished the team call off. ["KIRAMEI SILVER!"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei10-kirasil2.png)

"ARRIVING IN A FLASH!" They shouted, six as a whole team. "DISPATCHING EVIL WITH A BLAST!"  
  
"Mashin Sentai!" Atsuya called off.  
  
"KIRA-!" [They started to shout as they stuck their fancy poses, with Harry sitting in a lounging position beside Atsuya](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei13-teamwork3.png).

"MAGER!" Then the Mashins joined in, Carry, Duston, Lifton, Rolland, Shovellow, and Mahha- posing behind the team on their own accord.  
  
"W-whwhwahHahaha!?" The Train jamen pointed at the Mashins. "Why did you lot get in the rollcall!?"  
  
"Because you're a big stupid who's easily thrown off by something new!" Carry taunted, blowing a raspberry sound.  
  
"SHINING GRAPPLE!" And then Harry grabbed the Jamenshi from behind- having circled around while he was focused on the Mashins.  
  
"Let's Go, Duston!" Atsuya called out- and Duston ejected the mass of condensed stone.  
  
Equius leaped into the air- and knocked the rock away- "Tomo!"  
  
Tomo flip-kicked the rock ahead- "Harley!"  
  
"Nepeta!!" Harley slashed her own sword at the rock- and at this point it was visibly glowing with energy.  
  
"Atsuya!" Nepeta caught the stone, spun it around on the tip of her finger and hurled it at Atsuya, who leaped into the air, catching the rock---  
  
"KIRAMEI PRESSURE BOMB!" Atsuya shouted- and slam-dunked the condensed bit of debris into the smoke stack of the Jamenshi's mask.  
  
Atsuya landed, and dusted his hands off- "How's that?"  
  
"AGHGH!?" The Jamenshi grabbed at his head as Harry literally slapped him away. "MY HEAD'S OVERHEATING!" Indeed, his entire train mask was glowing red with a boiling steam noise from inside. "I CAN'T- CAN'T COMPLETE...!"  
  
"Alright, let's finish him off-!" Atsuya started, when a familiar train whistle blew through the air.  
  
Everyone looked up, seeing that Jouki had arrived, and Garuza had leaped out. [They turned to face him as he landed atop a nearby staircase](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei13-teamwork4.png), and glared down at them.  
  
"Impressive teamwork!" Garuza began. "And to have recruited that Dusty mashin into your ranks again... I suppose it's fitting that the only way to finish this job is to lend out my Jouki the once." He pointed at the Jamenshi. "GET ONBOARD, JAMEN!"  
  
"Ah- Lord Garuza!" The jamen began. "I won't let you down!" He leaped away, jumping into Jouki from afar. "Oooh! It's comfy!" [He sat down in the chair](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei13-teamwork5.png).

Unsurprisingly, Jouki transformed into Smog Jouki a moment later.  
  
"Oi! Garuza!" Harry stepped forwards. "Just what kind of plan are you running here!?"  
  
"It's none of your business!" Garuza declared, leaning against the stair railing. "Kiramagers! Allow us to finish our plan in peace. We can go back to destroying eachother another day!"  
  
"Like hell we'll let you get away with whatever it is at this stage!" Harry declared, throwing his hands to his side. "You'll never have a chance to shine as brightly as the six of us together... and beyond that you forgot one thing!"  
  
"And what's that?" Garuza asked.

"We're Not Just SIX!!!" Shovellow's claw arm suddenly swung in from out of left field as she grew to full size and clobbered Garuza off of the stairs he was standing on- sending the dark armored knight flying off into the horizon- where he vanished over a distant mountain top with a twinkle.  
  
Jouki roared then- [and so did a fishy looking Jamenju with a large train for a mask](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei13-teamwork6.png).

They weren't even following the plan- the Jamenshi inside Jouki was just smashing the ground up for the fun of it- same as the Jamenju.  
  


* * *

  
Kurantula looked a little bit pale as he said to himself, "We had enough darkness to summon Diesel Basura... but when I was doing that Garuza got flung off into the unknown! How scarry silent those Mashin can be when they're small!"  
  


* * *

  
"Today's our chance! Esprez and Drybe are fixed up and ready to go!" Fiya shouted as the core five Mashin began combining together.   
  
**__"MASHIN GATTAI!"__**  
  
 ** _"COMPLETE! KIRAMAGEIN!"_**  
  
 ** __"KIRA-MAGE-IN!"__**  
  
Kiramagein swung in, slashing at the Jamenju, and then blocking a Jouki attack that wasn't well planned at all.  
  
Kiramagein spun around- and Jetta shouted- "LET'S GOOOOO!"  
  
"Express!" Atsuya presed his morpher and spun the wheel. "Let's Finish This!"  
  
"MASHIN!" Esprez called out as Mashin Express emerged from a hyperspace tunnel, launched directly from the Beltus' Zord bay.  
  
"Harry! Take the wheel!" Atsuya declared.  
  
"Got it!" Harry said, leaping into Mashin Express as it blew by and then dove for Jouki. He and Esprez shouted together then:  
  
"Once More With Feeling!"  
  
Jouki was bathed in the light from Express's eyes, and he yelled- "YES! LET'S GOOOOOO!"  
  
He transformed and combined with Express in a snap- forming their combined mecha.  
  
"Ready! GHOST EXPRESS!" Jouki, Esprez, and Harry shouted.  
  
"And You! GET! OUT!" Harry tugged at the wheel sharply- and Jouki snaped his arm to the side several times until the Jamenshi inside Jouki's cockpit was thrown out.  
  
Train Jamen hit the ground. Unfortunately close to the Jamenju's feet.  
  
"SAW BLADE BLITZ!" Harry shouted- and Ghost Express' chainsaw arm slashed through the air rapidly- smashing into the Jamenju.  
  
Diesel Basura roared- shrugging off the attack, and stepped forwards towards the two waiting Mashin.

"My era's at an end!" The Train Jamenshi cried out before being squashed underfoot, much like the after thought he was at this point.  
  
Diesel Basura then launched a spewing breath attack full of orange goop at the two mecha.  
  
Ghost Express blocked the waving onslaught- taking some sparking damage.  
  
"Gotta think..." Atsuya glanced down at the ground, and saw Duston waiting there.   
  
A sparkle flashed- Duston, plus the Vacuum cleaner from the night before--   
  
"EUREKAING! AGAIN!" He shouted. "DUSTON! COMBINE!"  
  
"Transformadusting!" Duston shouted- shifting his body as the Inspiration and image came to him, allowing him to become a giant, Mecha sized....  
  
Vacuum Cleaner.

"READY!" They shouted. **_"KIRAMAGEIN DUSTON!"_**

"Let's Clean Up This Mess!" Atsuya shouted.  
  
The Jamenju spewed out another burst of oil slick-  
  
But Kiramagein threw Duston forwards and he sucked it up in mid flight.  
  
"Heave Ho!" Shovellow shouted.  
  
"Dust!" Duston chanted.  
  
"Heave!!"  
  
"Dust!"  
  
"HO!"  
  
"DUST!!!"

"Woah," Harry watched as it all vanished into nothing.   
  
"Next!" Atsuya pointed forwards. "Duston, take that mask off, please!"  
  
"Sucking Vortex!!" Duston shouted- "DUST-ON!"  
  
A whirling vortex of blue light emerged, grabbing onto the masked Jamenju Diesel Basura, and utterly RIPPED the mask off of its fishy looking face- [Hey! What do you know, the Fishy scaled Jamenju actually had a Fishy looking face beneath that mask of its](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kiramei13-teamwork9.png)!

"NOW!" Equius shouted.  
  
Everyone nodded in agreement.  
  
"KIRAMEI DYNAMIC!" all of them shouted.   
  
"GHOST EXPRESS BURN BLASTER!" Harry added in.  
  
Triple slash and ghostly boomerangs smashed into the demasked Jamenju- cutting into it and delivering it unto its speedy, explosive end.  
  
"Enemy Dusted!" Duston shouted.

_**_"CHECKMAGE!"_** _

* * *

Garuza growled as he stepped out of a portal back into the city, just in time to watch as Mashin Express and Mashin Jouki, linked up as a full train, exited through a Hyperspace window created by the revived Mashin itself.  
  
"NO!" Garuza shouted- grasping out at thin air as his prized possession was finally, and brutally, taken from him.  
  
And then Kiramagein stood in his way.  
  
"Garuza!" Atsuya glared down at the Crystalian Traitor. "You're on Time Out! If you play nice we might let you have Jouki back! Now Sit down and BEHAVE like a good little boy!"  
  
"What the hell was that-!?" Garuza shouted- and then he had no recourse of action- because Kiramagein broke apart into its core forms, and those Mashin drove off with Duston, Carry, and Rolland at their side- vanishing away into the distant city streets with a familiar and annoying muscal chime of Asgard Teleportation.  
  
Garuza huffed for breath- his breaths shallow and enraged- and then-   
  
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" He roared in frustration- loud enough to send birds flying from the noise.

* * *

  
Garuza stormed back into the flooded SGC, where Kurantula was wisely hiding behind the nearest wall.  
  
 ** _"DAMN THEM!"_** He shouted _ **. "DAMN THEM ALL!"**_ Jamental was radiating off of his body in waves. _**"THOSE THIEVES! THOSE COWARDS!!! THOSE- THOSE!!! GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"**_  
  
He stormed off, and Kurantula peeked out from behind his hiding place, and whispered, "Garuza's super pissed off and scarry. I should probably avoid him for now...!"  
  
And then Lothor's gloved hand shot out of the darkness, grabbed Kurantula by the shoulder.  
  
"Wait!" Kurantula protested. "It's not my fault!"  
  
"Didn't say it was!" Lothor said, and then dragged the Mofang off. "We've still got our half of the plan to finish, after all!"  
  
"Wait- what?" Kurantula asked.  
  
"We figured you might lose against those Kiramagers! So now," Lothor grinned. "It's our turn to let loose on Earth C."  
  
Kurantula swallowed- "Oh, okay. That makes sense, I guess."  
  
Oh No. Garuza was pissed off beyond all recognition and Lothor was planning on Kurantula's plan to FAIL?   
  
This was bad bad bad!!

* * *

  
[ _ **KIRAFUL! MIRACLE! KIRAMAGER!!!**_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzcI8KPeZd0)  
  
"It's the new guy's duty to clean all the Zords," Tomo smirked at Harry, handing him several large cleaning brushes.  
  
"Ah, that's good to know I guess. But I already did it last night for fun?" Harry offered with a shrug.  
  
"You what?" Tomo looked out the window into the Zord bay and saw all the Mashin stones AND Mashin Drijan sparkling and shiny clean.

"We're Squeaky Clean, Dus!" Duston cheered.

* * *

 ** _NEXT KIRAMAGER!_**  
  
"I have to be the distraction!?" Kurantula asked.  
  
"YES! YOU DO!" Garuza roared.  
  
"...Fine, fine, I'll distract them while you steal Jouki back."  
  
"You'd better do it or else, Kurantula!"  
  
"EEP! Scarrrrrry!"  
  
 _ **NEXT EPISODE: 14: Kurantula Appears! Jouki's fate- It's a (RING) Toss Up!**_  
  
"Let's Sparkle Next Time, Dus!" Duston cheered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's just using the weapon Mashin as ranger-scale weapons at this point...
> 
> Also, Yeah... Garuza got Team Rocket'd there. LOL. It was the only way for them to pull off the theft they did. HEHEHE...
> 
> Oh man, let me tell you, after the near-capture in the last episode, having the Kiramagers actually pull off the THEFT here. OH MAN. OH MAN. LET ME TELL YOU. Nothing's better. NOTHING'S BETTER!!!
> 
> It's a win! It's a straight up win! The Kiramagers pulled off such a win here! You have no idea! Even with the small continuity issues it causes me a little later down the line in the next act it's a WIN!!!
> 
> Oh man. This is the tiny little details I love when Adapting a story like this. These kids played it safe and pulled out a win at the last possible moment! Hahahaha~
> 
> And next chapter... INTERMISSION: Reveling in Success.
> 
> I'll be posting that probably tomorrow/monday sometime. Hehehehehe....
> 
> See ya theeeeeeen! *waves*


	15. INTERMISSION: Reveling in Success.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> woops. didnt mean to hold this back for so long. Have the next chapter on a random day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:   
> Mild panic/anxiety attack.  
> Keeping track of time.  
> Comforting hugs.

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 29TH, 2012.**  
  
They'd done it.  
  
They'd DONE IT.  
  
Mashin Express disconnected from Jouki and circled over head as the black and purple train Mashin reverted to his gemstone form, and settled with a crash against the ground of a random, unknown world in the Pegasus Galaxy.  
  
There wasn't even a Stargate on this world- there was a Space Gate, yes, but it was far and away from the planet itself.   
  
It didn't matter for now.  
  
Jouki was free from Garuza. Jouki was FREE.   
  
Jouki, for his part, was laughing tiredly- likely would have been crying if that were possible.   
  
Esprez was in guard mode. It wouldn't be long now. Atlantis would be sending a Jumper immediately. Flight time from the Space Gate to the planet was.... five minutes give or take planetary orbit.  
  
There probably no way for Garuza to track Jouki to here. There'd been a reason he'd been so stubborn about taking Jouki back on the spot. There was a REASON Jouki had been left inside a tree for a thousand years.   
  
He couldn't track them. He couldn't. But she had to be on her guard regardless. Atlantis would be one of the first places Garuza checked, if he could find the place.   
  
The Beltus one of the next places. But really Garuza didn't know how far Esprez could travel thanks to Drybe being combined.   
  
Couldn't know. Honest. That meant.  
  
That meant that she was probably being paranoid over nothing.   
  
Four minutes.  
  
Four minutes to- To...  
  
Why couldn't they choose a closer world? Why didn't they choose a closer world?  
  
[Hey. Can you keep it down please?] Drybe asked. [Tryin' t' sleep...]  
  
Esprez calmed herself as best as she could and gave a reassuring feeling- a smile if she'd been able to manage it. [Sorry, Drybe.]  
  
Okay. Panic wasn't going to get anyone anywhere but inside a deep dark hole. Speaking of...  
  
Esprez powered up the ol' purification and control retaking beams. "Jouki? I need to check on things. Is it alright if I use the light beams on you?"  
  
Jouki hummed an affirmative. "Yeah. Just. No combining right now. That fight hurt."  
  
"Alright." Esprez didn't feel like combining either right now lest her own anxiety and paranoia spread to Jouki. Down the beams of light went...  
  
And for the first time since she'd re-awoken, Esprez took a hard, long, good solid and thorough look at her partner.  
  
The Kiramei Stone making up Jouki's whole everything was... horrible corrupted in a lot of places. Honestly the only places that weren't really badly mangled were the parts centered around his head... central consciousness.  
  
Jouki had pulled everything that wasn't corrupted around himself to prevent from being tainted further.   
  
As she let the beams of light work over him, it was clear that they were having a small effect at reversing the damage, but some of the corruption was so deep seated that... the easiest thing to do would seriously be to carve Jouki's non-corrupted sections away and just leave the rest to rot away on an uninhabited world.   
  
It was a monstone in the making. A giant one. Did Garuza even have any idea how much that tiny bit of corruption he'd left on Jouki during that final day of Crystalia's existence would spread? How it would continue to corrupt his very being??

The fact that Jouki had basically absorbed life out of trees to try and keep himself from losing himself in the dark was a nightmare on its own. To have Garuza then repeatedly pound him with Jamental over and over again was...  
  
It was...  
  
It was a miracle they'd gotten their hands on such a large resource of Blue Diamond when they did. The timing was just perfect, overall.  
  
Her radio buzzed.  
  
 _"Mashin Express, this is Jumper One, copy?"_ John Sheppard's voice. Harley's... somehow adoptive father? Esprez honestly wasn't sure of the connections.  
  
"Copy that, Jumper One," Harry- HARRY!- said. Harry was still inside?! How had she- Right. Of course. Focused on so much else. "ETA?"  
  
 _"Two minutes out,"_ Sheppard replied.  
  
Two minutes. Had it really been two minutes already?  
  
Apparently.  
  
"Esprez? Everything alright?" Harry asked. "You've been pretty quiet."  
  
She didn't dare speak aloud externally. Not with Jouki to hear it.  
  
Internally, to the point of whispering, she said...  
  
"It's bad. It's really bad. Jouki's almost..." She didn't dare put a number to it but she did anyways. "Seventy to eighty percent corrupted. It's bad. It's... I don't know what to do for him except try to reverse as much damage as I can before we pull him out."  
  
"It'll be alright," Harry said. "We've got him away from Garuza for now. That's all that matters."  
  
Esprez wished it was. She really really did.  
  
The Jumper arrived.   
  
Esprez landed, shrunk down, split apart, turned back into oh so tiny gemstones and let Harry carry her and Drybe inside. Doctor Kae was rushing out with scanners.   
  
Harley was there- Mahha too. Harley and Harry were talking with Sheppard about what was going on, what she'd seen and sensed... things Doctor Kae was no doubt going to be confirming...  
  
She sat there on the bench in the back of the jumper, and Mahha floated next to her, landing with a soft thump and then leaning against her.  
  
He didn't say anything and she didn't feel like talking- just in shock that they'd gotten this far so far.  
  
Esprez had no idea what she wanted now, what goals she had to accomplish.   
  
But... all she really needed and wanted was her friends there to just BE THERE.  
  
Jouki was safe for the moment. Harry was right. That was what mattered for the moment.  
  
Mahha shifted into car form, and revved slightly in a low toned way.  
  
Esprez suddenly found a bit of energy to ask, "What are you doing?"  
  
"Lady Harley says that the sound and vibrations of Cats purring is soothing for people who are stressed out," Mahha said. "I don't know if it helps any for Kiramei Stones such as ourselves, but... It seems like you could at least use the distraction."  
  
Esprez found that sound logic and shifted into her Mashin form and leaned against Mahha- letting the vibrations travel through her.   
  
It was a strange, ticklish sensation. But... not an unwelcome one. And Mahha, and miss Harley by extension, was right. It was a very soothing sensation that was easing down her anxiety and tension.   
  
Had she the words for it, Esprez might equate it to the feelings Alternians felt when being soosh-papped by their Moirail. But she didn't care and she didn't have the words in that moment either way.   
  
She closed her eyes, and soaked in the vibrations Mahha was giving off.   
  
The last thing she was cognizant of before falling asleep was that she felt very warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figure we all could use a boost of good feels...
> 
> So I'mma also share with you all a link to the recently dropped MYST remake trailer!  
> https://youtu.be/mtkJkQ3JztY
> 
> Myst Fans Rejoice! Feel those vibes! Hahaha! 
> 
> Anyways. Yeah. 
> 
> See you guys friday with the next chapter: SGA:06X12: All Hallows Eve (Part 1)
> 
> Get ready to pose like a team, etc. etc...


	16. SGA:06X12: All Hallows Eve (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1/2. Everyone prepares for Halloween in their own way. Some celebrate victories, others prepare for the future. Meanwhile, some ghosts of the past resurface once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Halloween Preparations.  
> Underaged Post Victory Celebration Sleeping Together.  
> Implications of Underaged drinking.  
> Daniel Jackson.  
> Nudity.  
> Shattered Kiramei Stone Fragments.  
> Volcanic Eruption.  
> Hallucinogenic Substances.  
> Infusion of foreign substances into a body.

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 30TH, 2012.**  
  
Smog Jouki stomped around the clearing nestled between the ring of mountains on the random world he'd been deposited onto.  
  
"Man. It's good to stretch my legs," he said to himself, "but it's really boring out here." He gazed upwards at the heavens. "I wonder how much longer it'll be before the others figure out how to get me out of this?"  
  
The camera panned upwards, pulling out of the atmosphere, and pulling into orbit where the BC-304 Daedalus rested above the planet in question. The camera pulled into the side of the ship, and entered a laboratory room.  
  
A 3D Holographic blueprint scan of Jouki's individual train form components floated before Gina Kae and Mabushiina.  
  
"So... if everything's being read right," Gina pointed at the head section of the train. "This box is the only part of Jouki's entire body that isn't corrupted Kiramei Stone. The seat of his consciousness, as it were."  
  
Mabushiina's hands clenched tightly against themselves. "I see." The Princess of Crystalia took a steeling breath, and then gazed at the images. Finally, she spoke again. "I can do it. If he Shrinks down and we can decouple him from the rest of his body... I can transfer Jouki into the Aqua Kiramei Stone."  
  
"And you're sure you can manage the technique without fail?" Gina asked.  
  
Mabushiina looked towards the doctor, and answered, "I have no choice but to do it, Doctor Kae. I'm the only one left alive who knows the technique for merging one Kiramei Stone with another like this. But even my Father couldn't perform it without risk..." Mabushiina gazed back at Jouki's blueprints. "I have to do this. There isn't any other option."

* * *

 _ **_"KIRAMEI SEARCHING!"_** _The silver changer chimed away for several long moments.  
  
"C'mon..." Harry gazed down at the morpher. "Work already..."  
  
 ** __"DISCOVERY!"__** it finally shouted- generating a tracking hologram and a compass.  
  
"YES!" He shot to his feet. "Finally!"  
  
He wasn't the only one happy to hear the Morpher finally claim a discovery.  
  
The Go-Busters were traveling with him today- all five of them.  
  
"Finally!" Youko said, getting to her feet. "We're almost there, right?"  
  
"Yes," Beet J. Stag said, eyeing the direction the morpher was pointing. "That seems right for what I remember leaving."  
  
"Let's get a move on," Hiromu said. "I'd like to be back on Atlantis in time for tomorrow's Festival."  
  
"Festival?" Harry asked as the six of them set off through the forest.  
  
"He means Halloween," Ryujii said, clapping Hiromu on the shoulder. "Apparently he's never gotten a chance to celebrate an Earth Holiday before, so it's his first."  
  
"The Atlanteans are really the only ones who celebrate it anymore in its original form," Hiromu said. "Even then, it's still a bit different."  
  
"Ah, yeah..." Harry coughed. "I always forget about that. Honestly I gave up celebrating it when I realized almost everyone in school insisted on dressing up like the Creators."  
  
"We've had a similar holiday on Alfheim, or that's what my parents told me," Youko said. "If it's anything like what's done on the Unwritten now, it's done with illusion magic instead of costumes and makeup."  
  
"It sounds like a strange concept," Mei suddenly started talking to herself. "Dressing up in costume for fun when we do it all the time for work. One would think the appeal gets lost somewhere in the shuffle, but I suppose..."  
  
As she went on her rambling, Harry absently tapped his Morpher and checked the world calendar for Earth C... For a moment he balked at the coincidence, then remembered... Implausibly, when Earth C had been transported into the Alternia Galaxy, the date had been synched up with Earth-that-was's date. Meaning that as Atlantis observed October 31st as Halloween, so too did Earth C.  
  
"Ah..." Harry blinked owlishly as he processed something. "So that's why Sally was ticked off when I said my only plans for today and tomorrow were hunting down Kiramei Stones."

* * *

[ **o < \--- STARGATE: ATLANTIS --- >o** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0K2bRdtGlg)

* * *

"Can you believe Harry's skipping our first Halloween as Rangers to go hunting Kiramei stones?" Sally asked with a huff, sitting down at the Overdrive team's desk in the Ranger Classroom on Atlantis.  
  
"He's never really been into it despite liking theater stuff, hasn't he?" Vrissy asked, not looking up from her morpher's phone screen, where a video on how to apply full body makeup paint was playing. June was peering over the cerulean girl's shoulder, watching along.  
  
"Well, yeah, but Earth C's halloween is always..." Sally rolled her hand through the air. "Yknow?? Super duper religiousy focused on our parents?"  
  
"You mean like every other holiday on the planet?" Tavvy asked, adjusting his glasses.  
  
"I mean...." Sally shrugged.  
  
"Oh, he forgot to seal his paint," June said suddenly.  
  
Vrissy stuck her tongue out with a "Bleh!" and added, "That'll be a mess of green and orange body paint everywhere." She tapped at the buttons and navigated to the comments section to state as much personally.  
  
It was then that Kanaya entered the mostly empty classroom, peered around with a frown, and then approached their table. "What are you four doing here?"  
  
"Uh... waiting for class?" Sally offered with a shrug.  
  
"Didn't you get the email?" Kanaya asked, taking out her morpher and bringing up the text message in question. "Classes are canceled today due to a sudden emergency."  
  
June and Vrissy didn't react, fretting over videos, and Sally just blinked owlishly even as Tavvy facepalmed, and said, "Damn it. I misread it and thought that said it was canceled tomorrow."  
  
"Oh well," Sally said, sitting upright. "Guess we've got a day off?" Then, she looked to Kanaya. "Wait, why are you here if classes are canceled?"  
  
"Doctor Kae also sent me a text asking me to get something from her desk," Kanaya said. "Though why she didn't ask one of the Kiramagers for, I don't know."  
  


* * *

  
Harley and Tomo lay together in bed in Tomo's bedroom in the Strider-Vantas apartment in the City of Atlantis. Both exhausted, sound asleep, clearly undressed by their exposed shoulders and chest lines under the sheets, and definitely having muted their Kiramei Changer's alarms, which were both resting randomly on the floor nearby, pulsing lightly with light as several text messages and pre-set alarms went ignored.

* * *

Equius was busy at his own home, helping his mother Konyyl talk his father Azdaja out of some insane stunt involving climbing off of their roof with only a ladder supported by his psionics to try and get into a tree to collect a motorcycle wheel that had gotten thrown up there somehow, some way...  
  
The fact that said motorcycle sat in the garrage, half assembled, next to Equius' beeping Kiramei Changer, which rested in a beam of light cast by a suspiciously tire shaped hole in the garage's roofing said the rest of that story to a T.  
  


* * *

  
"Eh," Sally shrugged, "Harry's off treasure hunting. Said something about the others celebrating a lot over a major victory last night so they're probably working off the hangover or somethin'."

"Probably," Kanaya said simply, heading down to Gina Kae's desk and started riffling through the drawers.  
  
"I doubt they're hungover," Tavvy said, "but I could see them sleeping in after pulling off the win they did."  
  
"What win?" Sally asked. "I was a little bit busy yesterday helping my Moms with house stuff since Harry wasn't around to help."  
  
"They swiped Smog Jouki from Garuza, finally," Tavvy answered.  
  
"Woah!" June interjected. "They did what?!" She looked up, shock in her eyes.   
  


* * *

  
"I can't believe we actually did that last night," Nepeta said quietly, gazing up at the unfamiliar ceiling of Atsuya's bedroom in his family's house on New Athos.  
  
"Well, we did," Atsuya answered simply from next to her. "...Though, uh, to clarify, which part? The part where we finally stole Jouki, the part where we finally did the 'My parents meet my Girlfriend' thing, or the part where we... uh... celebrated a bit for getting Jouki back?"  
  
Nepeta looked to her left, taking in the way Atsuya had basically pulled the sheets up to his neck with a very obvious flush to his face, and then said, "The parents bit. Not the Jouki thing or the, uh... Celebrating we did after." Her own face went a warm shade of olive green as she remembered what they'd gotten up to the night before. "Those parts I'm very much believing we did."

She didn't dare sit up yet, but gazed around the room trying to see where she might have left her Kiramei Changer...  
  
Unfortunately for both of them, it seemed they'd lost those in another room the night before, because from where Nepeta was lying down, neither were in sight.  
  
Oh well, it wasn't like anything important was happening right now to warrant needing them.  
  
"So... I'm smelling breakfast," Atsuya said after a moment. "We should probably get up and get dressed before Mom or Dad comes to check on us."  
  
"Right," Nepeta nodded. "That'd be even more embarrassing after last night."  
  
Atsuya's parents had been VERY enthusiastic about their son getting a girlfriend... and having a kid already even if said kid was a lavender hued Kiramei Stone named Mashin Carry. There had been a lot of embarrassing questions the night before.   
  
A life long family of historians just sometimes didn't quite know when to quit digging at someone's expense. Still... overall the night had gone smoothly enough... Even if there had been some small amounts of alcohol involved.  
  
Nepeta wasn't going to tell her mothers that part. She was fortunate enough she'd drank as little as she had to avoid a serious hangover.  
  


* * *

  
"Found it," Kanaya said, pulling out a box from a drawer marked "Kiramei Stone Tools" in a neat, fancy script.   
  
"Neat," Sally sat up. "I'll come with. A delivery run sounds fun. Anyone else wanna come?"  
  
"I think I'll hit up the City's Library," Tavvy said, adjusting his glasses.   
  
"We're good," Vrissy said, tapping through to another video on her morpher.   
  
"Give us a call if you need us," June nodded.  
  
And so the other three Overdrive rangers left to do their own thing, having given their brief farewells.  
  
After the next video Vrissy had went to ended, June stood suddenly and stretched.  
  
"Hey, so... classroom's pretty cramped here," she started. "Wanna go hang out in the Zord Bay for a bit?"  
  
"Sure," Vrissy nodded. "Might be a better cell reception over there too."  
  


* * *

  
 ** __"DISCOVERY!"__** The Shiny Kiramei Changer announced as Harry stopped at the entrance to a cave.  
  
"Why does it always have to be caves?" He asked with a frown.  
  
"Activating my Marker Systems," J stated, two headlamps on either side of his head flashed on. "Also. They're headlamps."  
  
"Showoff," Youko teased.  
  
Harry tapped his Morpher, "General Leijon, we think we've found the cave, and are heading in to confirm. Make note of our coordinates in-case we loose contact."  
  
 _"Roger that,"_ Okurii Leijon's voice answered. _"Oh, and Harry, when you're done could you make sure to tell Nepeta that if she's going to spend the night with Atsuya, I'd appreciate it if she calls ahead first so we don't worry?"_  
  
"Uh..." Harry blinked. "I'm not getting in between family stuff by being a messenger, Ma'am."  
  
 _"Darn,"_ Okurii answered. _"It was worth a try, though?"_  
  
"Kiramei Silver out," Harry tapped his morpher again, ending the call, and also readying himself by summoning Shiny Breaker just incase he needed it.

"Well then," Hiromu said, "let's get going."

The six of them entered the cave.

* * *

Jade Jackson looked up as the door to the apartment opened and Harley slipped inside, a smile and a faint blush on her face. Jade smiled at her adopted younger-self.

She smiled in turn, teasing, "Ah, you had a good night, didn't you?"  
  
"We stole Garuza's Ride, and Tomo and I did some celebrating to take our minds off other things," Harley nodded. "So yeah. Good enough."  
  
"Did you eat breakfast already?" Jade asked.   
  
"Yeah, over at Tomo's," Harley answered, heading for her room to no doubt get changed out of the Kiramager team uniform she was wearing. "Davis was making waffles!"  
  
Jade waited for Harley to exit again, now dressed in something casual, to resume the conversation, "Waffles, huh? Sounds good. We had the usual."  
  
"Figured," Harley nodded. "As nice as scrambled eggs and sausage can be most mornings, it's nice to shake it up a bit."

"That's true," Jade nodded. "It's-"

Then, there was a knock at the door.

Harley looked to Jade and said, "I'm not expecting anyone."

Jade frowned, then got up, headed over to the door, and opened it.

"Ah, hey Ja-"

Jade promptly closed the door in the face of Doctor Daniel Jackson. Took several deep breaths, and then turned to Harley and said with a strained smile, "Harley, could you be a dear and go tell John and Argo we've got a ghost problem and need Aradia to come exorcise him something fast?"

Harley blinked. "Uh... Can I not get involved between whatever's going on between you and Bio-dad right now?"

Jade sighed, hung her head, and muttered, "Was worth a try." Then, she turned back to the door and opened it again.

Yep, Doctor Daniel Jackson was still there, clad in what appeared to be a toga made out of a hallway curtain that he'd yanked off a window somewhere, and definitely having just descended to the mortal realm yet again.

"You do realize how this looks, right?" Daniel offered.

"I know," Jade answered, decaptchaloging a set of clothes and tossing them at him. "Get dressed." She closed the door again. 

Daniel stood there for a moment, worked his jaw, then said to himself, "Yeah. She's mad, isn't she?"

* * *

Keiko Ayano looked up from her work at her desk when Argo's desk phone rang.  
  
"This is Argo Lalonde..." A pause. "...Daniel? Oh. Geeze. I guess that explains the reports of a guy wearing a hallway curtain toga we were getting." Another pause. "I'll let John know. Ok. Thanks for letting me know. Bye." They hung up.  
  
"Daniel, huh?" Keiko asked.  
  
"Apparently he got the wrong end of the city when he Descended because we moved it, and wound up in a hallway instead of his old apartment," Argo answered.  
  
"Ah," Keiko gave a knowing nod. "I see."  
  
Argo then looked at Keiko, and asked, "So... Twenty Bucks he's gone by the end of the year?"  
  
"Suckers bet," Keiko countered, "He's not going to even last the month!"  
  
Was it absurdly inappropriate to hedge bets on someone's inevitable demise? Sure. But Doctor Jackson had made such a recurring habbit of it over the years that it seemed to just be a universal constant at this point.  
  


* * *

  
A distant glow signaled the imminent arrival at their destination.

"I feel like I'm walking on my own grave and the place I was born at the same time," Mei remarked quietly.  
  
"I just feel unsettled," J said.   
  
"We're almost there," Harry said, pushing on ahead.  
  
They arrived shortly there-after, in the furthest back reaches of the cave.   
  
There, J shut off his headlamps, because there was no need for them.  
  
The massive, splintered and fractured fragments of a Kiramei Stone sat before them, each fragment pulsing softly with their own pattern of light.  
  
It was impossible to tell what the original stone's color was anymore- one fragment had taken on a bronze hue, another had taken on a silvery hue. The third, and by far the largest remaining fragment, was pulsing a soft light blue color.  
  
"Ah," Mei said, "I was right. It was a grave and the place I was born at the same time."

Hiromu decaptchalogued his sidearm blaster, and folded it into a camera that he started to take pictures with.   
  
"How horrible..." Youko whispered, gazing at the fragments. "It must have hurt so much to be splintered like this."  
  
"Just another tragedy to put on Enter's head," J said, walking quietly towards the bronze hued stone fragment. "Jin would be appalled." He reached a hand out to touch it--  
  
"Wait!" Hiromu called out. "There's some dimensional instability in here."  
  
Ryujii looked at the screen on the camera-blaster, and winced. "Heavy dimensional scarring, that's for sure."  
  
"Was I about to touch one?" J asked.  
  
"Yes," Hiromu answered. "You were."  
  
J pulled his hand back and took several quick steps back to where he'd started.  
  
"So what do we do?" Harry asked. "Is it safe for us to even be here?"  
  
"No, I don't think it is," Mei started. "We should leave before--"  
  
 ** __"DISCOVERY!"__** Harry's Morpher suddenly shouted, and then the stone fragments pulsed, and the space-time of the cave around them visibly fluctuated with the pulse.  
  
Gravity also seemed to cease to function within the cave for several moments- leading to all six of them to float into the air--  
  
"What the-!?" Youko shouted.   
  
\--before the stones pulsed again, and Gravity resumed. Everyone hit the dirt a moment later.  
  
"We should get going before that happens again," Harry said, trying to get to his feet.  
  
 _ **_"DISCOVERY!"_**_ The Morpher shouted, having other ideas, casting beams of light towards the Kiramei Stone fragments.  
  
"Shut up! This isn't the time for that!" Harry started.  
  
And then time felt like it slowed to a crawl as the Kiramei Stones pulsed again.  
  
Everyone found themselves struggling to move.  
  
 _ **PULSE.**_  
  
Time seemed to Reverse, though they were all aware of it, and found themselves standing where they were several moments before- with J reaching out to touch the one stone fragment.  
  
And then time unfroze, and J's earlier momentum carried on with him reaching out to touch the stone before anyone realized what had happened.  
  
Clink. J's finger brushed against the Brozne stone, and then everything changed.  
  
The three stone fragments burst apart into tiny fragments- almost as if they'd become atomized.  
  
 ** __"It's Morphing Time!"__ **Ryujii, Hiromu, and Youko managed to activate their Morphers in time- _"Set Visors!!"_ -and suited up even as the other three failed to even realize what was happening-- time was moving at a different pace for them, in fact.  
  
But those three Go-Busters couldn't do a thing, because as they morphed, those atomized, particlized stones then shot forwards towards and bounced around the room, bombarding the three unmorphed Rangers and embedding into them- while being reflected off of the Ranger suits as they morphed.  
  
J absorbed the Bronze stone fragment, Mei the Silver, and Harry...  
  
Harry directly absorbed the entirety of the large light blue stone fragment.  
  
As the three of them fainted, colapsing towards the ground- the space where the stone fragments had laid began to tear apart, revealing dimensional tunnels to other realities... One of them was opened directly into the harsh vacuum of space, and the expected suction began to happen.  
  
The Go-Busters ran forwards, grabbing their fallen friends- Hiromu grabbed Mei, Youko grabbed Harry, and Ryujii grabbed J- and moving to get them as far away as they possibly could.  
  
"This is why I hate dimensional rifts!!" Youko shouted.  
  
One of the other rifts was opened to a lava field, and it, too was being affected by the space tear a whole portal and a reality over... Rather, as it turned out it wasn't just a Lava field, but rather the boiling caldera of an active volcano. And that volcano did not like being exposed to the harsh vacuum of space at all.  
  
The eruption that followed exploded the cavern and caused it to collapse in on itself, and the force of that explosion sent all six of them flying out of the cave entrance at speed.  
  
Needless to say, they hit the dirt and tumbled to a halt. 

After several long moments of watching the cave crumble onto itself, and seeing no small amount of steam rising from the caved in ruins, Hiromu took a deep breath, and exhaled. "Let's hope that seals whatever dimensional collapse was going on in there."

"I wouldn't count on it," Ryujii said. "But let's just hope that it doesn't grow into a bigger problem."  
  
"Mei! J! Harry?" Youko tried shaking their companions awake, but to no avail, they were unconscious to a terrifying degree.  
  
Hiromu twisted a dial on his Morpher- __"Call Mode!"__ -and then said, "General Leijon, this is Red Buster. We need immediate pickup and evac."

* * *

Vrissy frowned as June stopped at a certain zord bay window, and gazed out into the nearly empty hanger. She didn't say anything, knowing what this was.   
  
June was gazing at her old zord- the Yellow Ninja Storm Lion Zord- that was silent and alone in its hangar. The other zords from her old team were missing- apparently having been called away during that battle they'd been taken and never returned.   
  
June gazed up at the Lion Zord, and frowned, before finally saying, "Stupid wish monkey."  
  
"Yeah," Vrissy agreed. "Couldn't have the decency to put everything back the way it was when he died."  
  
It was a pain, and a frustration, but there wasn't anything they could do about it now beyond keep moving forward.   
  
"We'll get them back," Vrissy said, putting a hand on June's shoulder. "Someday. We'll get them back."  
  
June smiled. "Yeah. I know we will. Still hurts, though."  
  
Vrissy chuckled, "Yeah, it always does."  
  
Then, their morphers chimed.  
  


* * *

  
"Over a year, Daniel," Jade said flatly. "You've been gone for over a year without barely a word to us otherwise."  
  
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Daniel hung his head. "Things got... busy, up there."  
  
The two of them sat at the dining room table in the Sheppard family apartment, with Jade having finally let Daniel in after he'd gotten dressed up in the clothes Jade had tossed him.  
  
"Sarah was pissed off when you said you weren't coming back right away," Jade told him.   
  
"Like I said, things got-"  
  
"Busy, I know," Jade cut him off. "You keep doing this, Daniel. It's kinda getting old."  
  
"Well, I'm back now, and that's what matters, doesn't it?" Daniel asked.  
  
"I dunno, Daniel, does it?" Jade asked, frowning.  
  
They were cut off by the sound of a Kiramei Morpher alarm.  
  
"Sorry, I gotta go," Harley said, exiting her room a moment later, dressed back in her team uniform. "Something happened on Harry's treasure hunt and he's unconscious. We're going in to check on him now."  
  
"Good luck," Jade said with a nod.  
  
"Thanks," Harley said, and then left.  
  
Daniel waited for a moment, then said, "...So. That's new?"  
  
"The team outfit?" Jade frowned. "Not really all that new."  
  
"No, I mean the-" Daniel paused. "The alarm thing?"  
  
"Still not really all that new," Jade said. "There's been a LOT that's happened the last few months. You've probably been out of the loop."  
  
"I guess so," Daniel frowned. "Why'd you guys move the City anyways? That threw me off when I went looking for you guys to come back."  
  
"It's a long story," Jade said, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. "Do you want the expedited 'I don't got time for this' version or the 'I guess I'm sticking around for a few months' version?"  
  
Daniel winced at the implications of that question.  
  
His daughter was definitely ticked off at him, to say the least. He probably deserved it after intentionally going awol like that, though.

* * *

"Behold!" Necrolai held up a large perfume bottle as big as her head. "Our solution towards distracting the Rangers while we hunt Enter."  
  
"And I've told you a thousand times already," Lothor shut it down, "We are NOT dousing teenagers with a sex drive increasing, plant based hormone! Do you have any idea how stupid that is?!"  
  
"But I've made sure it only lasts for a few hours at best!" Necrolai protested. "Shorter, even, if they've got lovers to help them take the edge off!"  
  
Lothor massaged at the bridge of his nose, and growled out, "What part of 'They're Teenagers' do you NOT understand!?"  
  
"It's based on plants found in TWO Galaxies! They've bound to have run into this sort of thing before," Necrolai countered.   
  
"And that just makes it all the stupider!" Lothor said, eyeing the vampire with an annoyed gaze. "Their parents, if they've ran into it before, ** _WILL HAVE KNOWN HOW TO BEAT IT!_** Their kids are probably dosed up with immunizers to make them not react to shit like this! And when they find out we tried **_DOSING THEM_** with an aphrodisiac, what do you even _THINK_ will happen? They'll just laugh it off as 'kids being kids'? Good Grief, Necrolai! THINK! We'll be hit down on the head harder than the Censor Board's Holiday Pumpkin Chucking!"  
  
"Well, I happen to think it's a good plan," Moltor said.   
  
"Nobody asked you!" Lothor and Flurious Shouted at the lava man.  
  
"Your support is appreciated, Moltor," Necrolai winked at Moltor instead. Then, she turned to Lothor. "Look. Garuza absconded because the kiddies stole his ride. Kurantula's plan doesn't work as a distraction without Garuza! How else are we supposed to distract the Rangers?"  
  
 _"They're Teenagers!"_ Lothor said, slapping the back side of his right hand into his open left palm with each exclamation point that was uttered. _"It's **HALLO! PUMPKIN HUNTING! WEEN!** Do! The! Math!_ We just have to keep them from realizing we're actively doing any shady shit that'll harm anyone but Enter! As long as we keep the Seers from pinging off of our Malicious intent towards the Rangers, they won't get called into action!"  
  
"I don't see you coming up with any better ideas than 'leave them be!'" Necrolai protested.  
  
"We don't need any other plans!" Lothor declared, very, very, very loudly. "Now get rid of that ticking time bomb of a perfume bottle before some angry parent decides to write us a hoard of even angrier letters that'll explode in _**ALL OF OUR FACES!!"**_  
  
Kurantula, having been stuck in this meeting all day since yesterday, just sipped at a juice box someone had stolen from Diaspora's market place as he wished he had some idea how to...  
  
His eyes darted down towards the fancy art on the back of the Juice Box.   
  
The primary language on it wasn't actually Alternian font, it was SORIAN.  
  
And the cute character art on it was of one of his own species, too...  
  
"Huh..." Kurantula smiled faintly. Maybe it was time to put his own species' technological marvels to use for once in a blue moon?  
  


* * *

  
Necrolai huffed as she stormed out of the meeting room- "Stupid Lothor, demanding I give up such a good plan! Bastard! This plan would work great!" She dumped the whole container of perfume into a trashcan, and stormed back into the meeting room a moment later.  
  
At first, nothing happened, then Garuza stepped out of the shadows a moment later, eyeing the container.  
  
He picked it up, looked it over, then, in a very un-Garuza like way, teleported away somewhere else.  
  
When the teleport finished back in Enter's secret base, Enter dismissed the holographic image of Garuza's armor from around his body, and he eyed the Perfume bottle with a savage interest.  
  
"I have no idea what you are, petite bottle," Enter said, smiling. "But. If my pursuers were told not to use you because it would bring the Ranger's attention onto you, then who am I to not use you in turn to bring the Ranger's attention onto you and not onto me?"  
  
He ignored the many other ongoing robotics projects, gathered a Monstone from a pile of rocks, and then teleported out randomly to one of Earth C's many cities, and connected the bottle and the stone to his laptop.  
  
"Meta Meta Metavirus..." he perused his cards. "Oh which to use today?" He selected one, and considered it before returning it and selecting another. "To Hallucinate?" He smirked. "Well Well Well, why not add on a psychedelic to whatever else is going on inside this petite bottle of chemicals?" He slid the card into the laptop. "Install."  
  
Energy transferred into the perfume bottle and the Monstone, and then both lifted into the air before merging together. **__"Hyper! Per-Fume-Droid. Hyper! Per-Fume-Droid."__**  
  
What formed was the old, reliable Sprayer type Metadroid once more.   
  
"I'll spray 'em wild!" The Droid announced as it landed on its feet.  
  
"Go my Metadroid," Enter said, "go and spray everyone you see. Draw the Rangers into your spray if you must... It may drag even more attention to your rampage. And rampage and rampage until you draw GIlgamesh's Generals into the fray. Do not let anything stop you."  
  
"GOT IT, BOSS!" The Droid shouted, and ran off at speed to find some targets.  
  
Enter just shook his head, and said, "That should keep them all off my back for a while." And then he teleported away back to his base where he authorized the countdown to a Megazord teleportation.

* * *

Three teams waited in the Beltus' Kiramager lounge as a medical scanner went over the unconscious Harry in the ship's infirmary.  
  
"Our Moms are gonna be pissed," Sally said simply, gazing at a hologram screen showing the scanner doing its work. How she'd gotten the feed was simple- she'd asked nicely. That said... "I'm sure I'm going to have to be the one to tell them. But man. They're going to be really pissed off."  
  
Harley snorted. "Hell hath no wrath like a Jade Harley scorned." Sally looked at her in confusion, and Harley answered, "My mom's ticked off at her bio-dad who just dropped in out of nowhere this morning."  
  
"Ah," Sally nodded, not quite getting it, but getting it never the less.  
  
"Daniel's back?" Tomo asked, surprised. "Geeze. That's bad timing."  
  
Harley shrugged. "It is what it is."  
  
"So. I can understand J and Mei being magnets for the stone fragments," Nepeta said, frowning, "but why Harry?"  
  
"It's probably because we morphed," Ryujii guessed. "The fragments bounced off of our suits."  
  
"I think it was Harry's Morpher, actually," Gina Kae said as she entered the room, a grim look on her face. She took a breath. "Hello, Everyone."  
  
"What's the prognosis, doc?" Sally asked.  
  
"It's... strange." Gina walked over towards the hologram table in the center of the room, and activated the projector. As she did so, the Kiramei Stones decapthaloged themselves to watch. She first brought up a blueprint of the Shiny Kiramei Changer. "I designed the Silver Ranger Morpher to house a massive amount of Kiramei Stone as a power source incase the sample I'd provided wasn't enough to run it. Personally I'd expected to fill it in manually and gradually, but forgot about it when the Morpher worked without problem..." She shook her head. "I should have removed the feature. The Morpher automatically detected a massive, unbound deposit of Kiramei Stone, and attempted to captchalogue it during the process of the, well... Dimensional and Temporal instabilities observed at the time."  
  
She changed the image over to bodily scans of all three affected Rangers.   
  
"As you can see, however, the Stone Deposits didn't go into Harry's Morpher like we'd expect, instead, like what happened with Mei and Jueki, the fragments merged with his body," Gina said. "As an aside, pretty much all traces of robotic skeletal structure in Jueki and Mei have vanished. They're all now one hundred percent composed of Kiramei Stone. Their bodies are closer in structure to being like the Sub-in, versus the hybrid mechanical stone constructions they were before. A similar process happened to Harry."  
  
"But Harry didn't have any robotic parts in him," Sally said, frowning.  
  
"Exactly," Gina said. "Harry's entire physical mass has significantly increased, due to the fact that there are microscopic Kiramei Stone fragments scattered through out his body. Quite frankly... I have no idea what this would do to a person. Especially not with a damaged Kiramei Stone."  
  
"At least it wasn't a Monstone," Fiya said quietly. "That would have been worse."  
  
"So... Harry's like the Sub-in now?" Nepeta asked.  
  
"Pardon?" Gina asked.  
  
"Like, when the Mashin are using the Sub-in," Nepeta clarified. "They're sorta piloting a second stone body around themselves. So... is that what's going to happen to Harry?"  
  
"There's no way of knowing until he wakes up," Gina shook her head. "If he even wakes up. Mei's already woken up, and seems fine, but J's still out of it. I'd assume he and Harry took quite a shock to their heads. There's no telling if they're just trying to sort things out or if there's permanent damage." She looked to Nepeta, and said, "Marsti's still checking over them. She'll let you know if anything comes up." Then, to Kanaya she turned, and asked, "Miss Maryam, did you-?"  
  
"Here," Kanaya handed over the box, and as she did so, there was a ping, and the blaring sound of an alarm.  
  
"Damn it, what now?" June sighed.  
  
Equius brought up the alert screen. "Looks like one of Enter's sprayer model robots is..." he blinked, bringing up a live security feed. "Spraying people in the face and running away?"  
  
Indeed, that was what the robot was doing, spraying people in the face and then running away as they shrieked and started covering themselves as if they'd been stripped naked- when they clearly hadn't.  
  
"Looks like some kind of hallucination spray," Hiromu deduced. "We can go deal with it. Everyone else should stay here and wait in case we run into trouble." Then, he looked to his teammates. "Ready?"  
  
"Ready," Ryujii and Youko answered as the three of them took center stage in the room, activating their morphers with a twist and a ** __"It's Morphing Time!"__**

* * *

"Oh for the love of-" Lothor growled as a Kelzak whispered to him. He then turned towards Necrolai. "I thought I told you to destroy that perfume bottle!"  
  
"I got rid of it like you said to, but you didn't say anything about destroying it!" Necrolai started- "Wait, what's this about?"  
  
"THIS!" Lothor brought up a projection screen of Earth C, where the sprayer droid was just now confronting the Go-Busters. "This is what This is about! A Robot that's going around spraying people in the face and making them think they and everyone else around them are suddenly naked! Now THAT sounds an awful lot like the perfume you were parading around in here not half an hour ago!"  
  
"Well that's not one of mine!" Necrolai said. "It's clearly Enters!"  
  
"What's CLEAR TO ME is that you disposed of it in a way that Enter was prepared for, somehow!" Lothor snarled. "What did you do and where and when and HOW!?"  
  


* * *

  
"OW!" The Sprayer Droid shouted as it took damage from the blaster shots the Go-Busters were sending his way. "That stings! But it's nowhere near as stinging as this!" he thrust his sprayer forwards and launched a wave of spray at them.  
  
The Go-Busters dodged out of the way, and the Sprayer Droid tracked Youko upwards as she leaped over head.  
  
When she landed, the Droid managed to get a solid hit in, and Youko shouted, covering her face.  
  
"Hahahaha!" The droid laughed, turning its back towards Hiromu and Ryuuji. "Gotcha! Now you'll be unable to fight!"  
  
Except...  
  
"Huh?" Youko lowered her arms, and tilted her head. "It didn't take."  
  
"...What?" The Droid asked- shocked. "That doesn't make sense!! It should have--"  
  
 ** __"It's Time for Special Buster!"__**  
  
The Sprayer Droid whirled back around to see Hiromu and Ryuuji aiming their sword-blaster combo blasters at him.  
  
"Oh no..." it whined, and then went to dodge to the side, only to get kicked in the shoulders by Youko as she used its back as a springboard to get out of the way. "OOF!!"  
  
"FIRE!" Two beams of concentrated energy smashed into the Sprayer Droid- exploding it violently... As well as scattering a mist of pink perfume into the air.  
Ryuuji and Hiromu coughed as the halucinogenic compound hit them... and similarly did nothing.  
  
"...Did the Metadroid lose its power or something?" Youko asked as her teammates observed themselves.   
  
"I think it might be something else," Ryujii said. "We should head back to the Beltus and get checked out."  
  


* * *

  
Enter scowled as he saw the destruction alert from the Metadroid. "Fine." He tapped a few buttons and accelerated the countdown towards teleportaiton. "Let's make things happen a bit faster."  
  


* * *

  
"And would you Look At That!" Lothor said, turning towards Necrolai. "It didn't even work to incapacitate the Rangers At All!"  
  
"Enter must have meddled with the formula, it should have worked on them," Necrolai crossed her arms.   
  
"Well, I'm counting my blessings that it didn't!" Lothor said. "The Censor Board'll come after me for sure after this anyways!"

"What Censor Board?" Necrolai asked. "We don't answer to anyone but Lord Gilgamesh!"  
  
"Bah!" Lothor waved her off. And then an alarm caught his attention. "What's this now...?"  
  


* * *

  
A teleportation wormhole opened up then, over the city, droping from it an enemy megazord styled after the Sprayer Droid.  
  
It landed feet first in the middle of the city streets, and began spraying out pink perfume everywhere into the city. Meandering along and just spraying everything and everyone that got caught up in it..  
  
"Exams'll have to wait," Youko said, glaring up at the Megazord as pink smoke filled the city, settling in like a oddly colored fog. "We need the zords!"  
  


* * *

  
Lothor cracked a small smile. "Ohho. Enter... you do deliver in spades when you go out, don't you?" He set up a tracking program as the Go-Busters pinged the Zord summoning server to transport their Zords to them..  
  


* * *

  
In Atlantis's Zord Bay, the three Buster Machines, CB-01, GT-02, and RH-03 were teleported out through a combination of Linking and Asgard beaming technology.  
  
And sure enough, nigh instantaneously, the Zords transported into the fog filled city, and the Go-Busters leaped onboard.  
  
"Tokumei Gattai!"   
  
The three Buster Machines combined together, forming the towering giant, "Buster King, Ready!"  
  
The Sprayer Megazord took one look at them... And then raised its sprayer arm over head and jettisoned so much pink perfume from its nozzle that it vanished into the smoke.  
  
"What the...?" Hiromu looked around. "Did it dissolve?"  
  
"Setting scanners..." Ryujii started to scan, with Buster King turning around within the fog, trying to find their opponent. "...Nothing?"  
  
"The smoke has to have some kind of radar jamming effect to it," Hiromu deduced.   
  
The smoke just seemed to continue to grow.   
  
_"Moouuu!"_ Youko growled, gripping at the controls of her zord. "Just how much of this stuff is it going to be putting out?"  
  


* * *

  
"We can't raise them on radio," Nepeta frowned.  
  
"The whole city's covered in that smoke," Atsuya said. "We've got to go in and help clear it out."  
  
"And what if you guys get affected by the spray?" Sally asked, frowning.  
  
"If we're inside Kiramagein, we should be fine," Harley said. "And besides, even if it does, we know it's an illusion of some kind, AND it's not like we didn't just spend the other day at a bath house. Seeing our teammates naked is probably the least of our worries right now."  
  
"She's got a point there," June said with a nod.   
  
"Fine," Sally said. "But know that if you guys haven't cleared the fog and gotten us radio contact back within the first three minutes after you go in, we're going in after you."  
  
"Got it," Atsuya said, nodding.   
  
The five of them tapped their morphers...  
  
 ** __"KIRAMEI GO! KI! RA! MEI!"__**  
  
...And spun the wheels.  
  
"KIRAMEI CHANGE!"

* * *

"MASHIIIN!" The five Mashin transformed to full size, approaching the fog covered city from the outside.  
  
"Mashin Gattai!" Atsuya tapped at his Morpher, and spun the wheel.  
  
 _ **_"MASHIN GATTAI!!"_**_ The mashin came together fast, and then stood ready, five as one.  
  
"Ready! Kiramagein!" The Kiramagers called out.  
  
 ** __"KIRA-MAGE-IN!"__**  
  
"Let's blow this smoke away!" Heliko shouted- her helicopter blades separating from the V-crest and rotating to speed.  
  
It didn't do much to carve a path into the smoke, however.   
  
"Awwh! How annoying!" Heliko complained.  
  
"Duston!" Atsuya struck at his Morpher. "Start pulling in as much smoke as you can!"  
  
"MASHIN!" Duston decaptchalogued, and transformed into his garbage truck form, and then continued further into Vacuum Cleaner form.  
  
"Ready! Kiramagein Duston!" The mecha pointed the Zord at the smoke, and then...  
  
"SUCTION POWER!" Duston shouted- glowing with energy as he began to absorb as much smoke before them as he possibly could manage.  
  


* * *

  
"Hey! The smoke's starting to clear!" Youko realized.   
  
"And there's our target!" Hiromu said, spotting the enemy Megazord, who suddenly became visible inside the massive fogbank of perfume.   
  


* * *

  
"Gak!" Duston suddenly coughed and sputtered- unable to pull in any more of the foul smoke. "That stuff's nasty, Dus!"  
  
"I think we did enough, though!" Shovellow stated. "Look!"  
  
They all looked, and saw the finisher for Buster King fire off.  
  
"Containment Field!" Ryujii called out- and his Zord's speaker emmitters launched a containment bubble at the Sprayer Megazord- trapping it in place.  
  
"Charging sword!" Youko declared, and Buster King's sword began to glow green.  
  
"Busters, Ready?" Hiromu called out.   
  
And then, as one, the trio called out- _**"DIMENSION CRASH!"**_  
  
They brought the sword down on the enemy Megazord- smashing through it, and exploding it.  
  
Unfortunately, just like the smaller Droid, exploding it sent another wave of pink smoke through the air, which roared out like a tsunami across the city, and blew past Kiramagein.  
  
"KYAAAH!" Heliko shouted as the mecha crossed its arms over its face to try and block.  
  
The pink fog that settled over the city began to disperse soon after that, however, fading out into nothing as it mingled with the atmosphere.  
  
Hiromu looked himself over even as some pink smoke filtered through the Zord's cockpit, and sighed in relief. "Everything's normal here. Shutdown complete."  
  


* * *

  
Harry woke up with a groan, and quickly realized he was in a bed in the infirmary on the Beltus. A moment later, he looked around and found Sally sitting in a chair nearby, reading through a magazine on Halloween costumes.  
  
"Please tell me I wasn't out for a year and It's Halloween again," Harry pleaded.  
  
Sally looked up, and relief flooded her face. "No, dummy," she said, clearly trying not to cry. "Just a few hours." She got up, and then pressed a button on a wall.   
  
After a few moments, the answer as to what the button was was answered when Gina Kae walked in, a frown on her face. "Hello, Harry. How are you feeling?"  
  
"Like I got run over by my own Zord?" Harry offered, wincing as Doctor Kae went and started waving a scanner over his head.  
  
"That's probably a close approximation to the truth," Gina said. "Anything else you're aware of in the moment? Changes in thought or memory, maybe?"  
  
Harry shook his head. "I feel like I got hit by my Zord, not like I lost memories or anything.... Did I get hit by my zord, actually?"  
  
"Nah," Sally said. "But you did get... uh... quite the infusion."  
  
"Huh?" Harry asked. "I don't get it."  
  
"What's the last thing you remember?" Gina asked.  
  
"Walking into the cavern to find..." Harry trailed off. _"Oh. Shit."_

"Oh shit indeed," Gina sighed. "What your sister means is that your body absorbed a massive amount of Kiramei Stone in the cavern. Enough particles to essentially make up the entirity of your body's makeup by atleast eighty-five percent."  
  
"I absorbed it?" Harry asked, blinking, and looking at his hands. "I don't feel like I'm made out of crystal, though?"  
  
"It's a near-magic morphological stone that we're still not quite sure of how it even works," Gina admitted. "Honestly, we should just count our blessings that you're even conscious at this stage."  
  


* * *

  
Marsti Houtek frowned beneath her face mask as she ran an Ancient scanner over Hiromu's face. "Well, this is disconcerting."  
  
"Let me guess," Ryujii asked as he rolled his shoulders out. "Microscopic Kiramei Stone fragments?"  
  
"A very low ammount, compared to Harry," Marsti nodded. "Just enough managed to get through the Morphing sequence to make you immune to whatever compound that was."  
  
"But not enough to make us colapse?" Youko asked before biting into an apple.  
  
"Evidently. Still, you three should take a decontamination shower before you head out of the Infirmary," Marsti said. "Just in case you wind up being silent carriers for the hallucinogen."  
  
"What about the Kiramagers?" Youko asked.  
  
Marsti sighed, and briefly tapped at her KI, before bringing up a hologram showing three camera feeds were playing from the Beltus' isolation rooms. The Kiramagers were split off into the predictable groups of Atsuya and Nepeta, and Harley and Tomo, while Equius sat on his own with a large blindfold tied around his eyes.  
  
"Well, they're affected by the smoke, but like Harley said in the lounge room, it's not quite as big of a deal to them given recent events," Marsti said. "That said, they volunteered for some testing of the effects as well, that, combined with the massive sample Duston was able to provide us, should give us some idea of what we're dealing with."  
  
"So, what is it, exactly?" Ryujii asked.  
  
"It's definitely an illusion of some kind, but it's not one that draws from memory," Marsti answered. "Harley already reported that she noticed issues with the bodies the illusion was presenting her compared to what she knows matches reality, and Tomo was able to confirm."  
  
"What kind of issues?" Youko asked, frowning.  
  
"Mostly just generic appearance differences," Marsti answered. "Skin texture, in Tomo's case. Some real freckles on her shoulders that aren't present in either their's, or Harley's illusioned states. Some lighting inconsistencies in Harley's- mostly just how the reflections she's seeing are playing off of her actual clothes and not how it should with real skin."  
  
"Why's Equius blindfolded?" Ryujii asked.  
  
"There's a mild psychological effect to it that's persistent even with his eyes closed or with the blindfold on," Marsti shrugged. "Basically, whatever this drug is, it's writing onto their brains' perception of reality overtop whatever it is they're actually perceiving."  
  
"It's like someone's applying an image filter over what they're seeing," Hiromu mused.   
  
"Essentially, yes, it's like a 'Nudity' Filter has been applied," Marsti nodded. "Finally, Nepeta and Atsuya seemed to have gotten a lesser dose than the others- possibly due to where they were seated in Kiramagein, and are already reporting that the effects are fading, though we're keeping an eye on them just in case it's a false sense of security."  
  
"And how much of this stuff just got unleashed into Earth C's atmosphere?" Hiromu continued, frowning.  
  
"Far too much," Marsti shook her head. "I've got Doctors Keller, Fraiser, and Mckay working on the samples Duston provided already. If we're lucky we'll have an antidote ready to provide shortly."  
  


* * *

  
"Bad news: It's that goddamned plant Lucius Lovvin was using," Rodney Mckay swore as the test results came back not too much longer after that.  
  
"Oh, God," Janet Fraiser swore. "Isn't that the Pegasus variation on the plant from Alternia?"  
  
"The one that made everyone's sexdrives kick into high gear when combined with something else?" Jennifer Keller asked. "Yeah, pretty much."  
  
"The good news is we know how to make an antidote for both varriations of those," Rodney said. "Even if whoever it was that made this thing seemed to mix in a couple of different versions of the plant to make it work, the overall chemical makeup is close enough that it should work."  
  
"Let's get to synthesizing it, then," Janet said, clapping her hands together.  
  


* * *

"I've got it!" Kurantula said, returning to the conference room, and having brought with him a large amount of floating red-lined, black hued technological marvels. "The key to completing our plan as stealthily as we can!"  
  
"Forget Stealth for now," Lothor said. "Enter just caused us a whole load of trouble, which means he's preparing for something big! Which means WE have to go for something big as well!"  
  
Kurantula shouted, " _Then what the heck am I even doing here for!?"_  
  


* * *

  
Down in a sewer system, rushing along beneath the city, traveled a glowing orange stone.  
  


* * *

  
"Welcome back to the land of the living," Vrissy said, tossing Harry his jacket and epaulettes as he entered the Kiramager lounge room. "Doc give you a clean bill of health?"

"Thanks," Harry said, catching the objects with ease. "As clean as I can get when I apparently have a body made out of crystal." He started putting on his jacket.  
  
"Yeah," Sally winced, falling down onto a chair. "That's going to take some getting used to."  
  
"Still," Tavvy stood up, and smiled. "It's good to have you back. You really gave us a scare, Harry!"  
  
"Sorry 'bout that," Harry said, zipping it up and then affixing his epauletts over his shoulders. "Didn't mean to do it, honest."  
  
"Well, don't do it again, alright?" June asked. "This job's hard enough right now as it is without having to worry about people getting taken out by magic stones or some stupid halucinogenic smoke fog shit."  
  


* * *

  
The stone dumped out at the end of the sewer line outside of the city, getting caught on some robotic debris caught against the filtration system, where it lay for several moments before it began to lift into the air and started to transform into a humanoid form all on its own.  
  


* * *

  
Kanaya just smiled, "Well, atleast we shouldn't see a resurgence of that monster again."  
  


* * *

  
 ** __"Per-Fume-Droid. Per-Fume-Droid."__**  
  
With a flash of light, the Monstone reformed into the Sprayer Droid once more.   
  
_**"STOOOOONE!"**_ It shouted- having retained none of its previous sentience at all.  
  
And then it stormed off into the wilderness, with one set destination in mind.  
  


* * *

  
**_TO BE CONTINUED._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This. Whole Arc. Came about because of certain reveals tied to Kiramei Silver's personal Megazord. Plus a few other plot revelations that. Yeah. Lemme just say it right here, I should've known better, and had to flub up an excuse to make it so that I can pull off the things that need to be done to match the source footage. 
> 
> Harry takes a bit of a beating because of this. Taka-kun just keeps getting hits and that translates over to Harry here. Ooops. So what was once just backstory is now... actual story? Haaah. Oh man. I feel so sorry for these kids.
> 
> That said, Lothor leans into the fourth wall. He's a great character to do that with. Ninja Storm was always a bit more comedic than serious, but man, using that comedic tone to be more serious with some of these plots is just a lovely twist on the formula.
> 
> Honestly, I wouldn't have dug back into the stupid pollen plant that's been used twice already in this series, but I felt that I hadn't properly lampshaded the absurdity of such a thing in past episodes. Here Lothor brings up pretty much all of my thoughts on the matter. It's a dumb concept to use for a THIRD time. 
> 
> And that really would have been the end of it if Enter hadn't seen a means of screwing with everyone. 
> 
> \---
> 
> Next Episode is SGA:06X13: Trailblazer (Part 2)
> 
> See you guys Monday.


	17. SGA:06X13: Trailblazer (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2/2. Conclusion. The Villains make Such. A. Mess. On this halloween.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Body Metamorphosis.  
> Implications of Wishes Twisted Something Murderously.  
> Giant Mech Vs. Mech battles.  
> Evil Rangers Vs. Good Rangers.  
> Villain Vs. Villain battles.  
> Psychological Warfare.  
> Implications of Mind Control.  
> Denial of Mind Control.  
> Transferring a Mind between bodies.

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 30TH, 2012.**  
  
"So how's it going, Princess?" Gina Kae asked, entering the repurposed 302 bay on the Daedalus, back in Pegasus.  
  
"Fairly well," Mabushiina said, gazing up at the large containment and separation rack that Jouki was presently settling into. "We should be ready to begin in a few hours. Though, I'd feel better if Mashin Express and one of the Kiramagers were here to help manage things before we begin."  
  
"I'll see who's available when the time comes," Gina said.   
  
"What happened back in Alternia?" Mabushiina asked. "You were gone for a rather long time."  
  
Gina paused, considering what to say, then... "Kiramei Silver absorbed an estimated 30% of a Kiramei Stone into his body."  
  
Mabushiina froze there, shook her head as if disbelieving, and then asked, "Could you repeat that?"

* * *

[ **o < \--- STARGATE: ATLANTIS --- >o** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0K2bRdtGlg)

* * *

**EARTH DATE: OCTOBER 31ST, 2012.**  
  
Harry Anderson Harley-Lalonde gazed at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror at home on Earth C.   
  
His home town was fortunate enough to be on the other side of the planet from where the latest monster attack had been, and so they weren't under an atmospheric advisory yet and it was safe for him and the others to come home.  
  
But it wasn't these thoughts that had Harry gazing at his own reflection. Oh, no, it was the small patch of visibly silver-blue crystals peeking out from underneath his bangs at his hairline.   
  
As he focused on them, he could either make them grow or shrink at will- rather, with his own innate Kiramental and imagination. But even so... It was a disconerting discovery to make after yesterday's ...incident.  
  
A knock came from the bathroom door, and Sally asked, "Yo, Bro? You done styling your hair in there?"  
  
Harry took a deep breath, and then exhaled. Then, he said, "Yeah, I'm done." He willed the crystals away, and unlocked the bathroom door.  
  
Sally stopped in whatever she was going to say and eyed Harry critically. "Hey... I didn't mean to cut you off if you hadn't finished yet."  
  
"Huh?" Harry asked.  
  
"Your hair," she answered, ears flattening in concern. "You didn't style it like you usually do."  
  
"Don't need to today," Harry said- and quickly wished he hadn't.   
  
"Huh?" Sally asked.  
  
Quick, excuse, excuse....  
  
"Last minute Halloween costume," he said flatly.   
  
"OH!" Sally nodded. "Gotcha, gotcha." Then, she brightened up. "You're going out tonight?"  
  
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "I didn't realize it was today until a bit before, uh..." Harry rubbed at the back of his neck. "Well. You know."  
  
"Right," Sally eyed the morpher on his wrist. "Are you going to go out with us, or...?"  
  
Or your team, went unsaid.  
  
Harry shrugged. "Unless something comes up, as far as I know the others are going to be stuck in quarantine all day. But I was planning on hanging out with you guys regardless. It's been a while."  
  
That part was true, atleast. He'd been thinking about what he might do for a costume before getting all crystalified, but... Well, he hadn't had time to actually think of a costume or anything yet.  
  
Sally's mood brightened again upon hearing that. "Awesome! Say no more then! I'll wait to see it in person then!" She grinned, and then nudged him out of the way by the shoulder with her hand. "Now if you'll excuse me! I've got my own morning routine to get done!"  
  
Harry let her into the bathroom and stepped out into the hall as the door closed behind him, and then he took another deep breath, and exhaled. 'Now just what the heck am I supposed to do for a costume?'   
  
He glanced at his reflection in the glass of a photograph of him and Sally at age 6, hanging out with Vrissy and Tavvy. Man, his hair certainly was rather wild looking at the moment. He'd gotten so caught up with the crystals it looked like he'd just rolled out of bed- which he basically had at any rate so that wasn't surprising.  
  
And with some of the baggyness under his eyes... hrm... he usually covered that up with makeup but he'd clearly forgotten that too. Still, he looked like he'd been up all night like a-  
  
His ears stood up as an idea hit him.  
  
"I guess I gotta see if I've got any torn up shirts left lying around," Harry said simply, before marching off to his room.  
  
Last minute werewolf costume? He could pull it off.   
  


* * *

  
Nepeta yawned and stretched out as she and Atsuya were finally given the all clear to be let out of the Beltus' isolation room.  
  
"Maaan," She whined. "Stupid observation cameras. Couldn't really enjoy any of that, could we?"  
  
"No, I guess not," Atsuya said, then put his glasses on, and said, "It's weird how it even was writing over my sparkle sight."  
  
They waited for the door to open, and when it did, Okurii Leijon stood there, smiling.  
  
"Oh, hey, Momma," Nepeta said.  
  
"Hi, Nepeta," Okurii said, not dropping her smile. "I hope you two had fun."  
  
Nepeta's mouth got ahead of her brain, "Could've been more fun, but it was alright." Wait. "Errr..."  
  
Thankfully, they were saved the awkwardness of the following conversation by Mashin Carry, who drove up, along the ground, with the Sub-in doll resting on her back tray.  
  
"Mama! Papa!" Carry called out. "Hugs! Hugs and breakfast!!"  
  


* * *

  
A few minutes later, Carry, in her tiny tyke human-alternian hybrid guise, was sitting at a table in the Beltus' cafeteria, and hapily munching away at bowl's worth of an overly sugar covered cereal.  
  
Okurii and Nepeta stood off to the side in line for their own breakfast ordering as Atsuya kept an eye on the Mashin-girl at the table.   
  
"Well, she's certainly enjoying that cereal," Okurii mused. "Does she even really need to eat, given the Substitute thing?"  
  
"Probably, but we're not really sure," Nepeta shrugged. "Last time we weighed her full sized gemstone form, she'd gained a couple extra pounds in mass somehow. So, we think the sub-in's converting it all into something Carry herself can use to grow over time."  
  
"Makes sense," Okurii mused. "She and the other two were dug out of the ground early. Have Rolland and Lifton showed any interest in doing the same thing?"  
  
"Nope," Nepeta shook her head. "We've asked, too. They're more interested in sleeping and-or rampaging a lot."  
  
"She's certainly a unique one, though," Okurii mused. "A Shape-shifting Kiramei Stone with an Athosian Father and an Alternian Mother, learning about all these different worlds and experiences."  
  
Nepeta's face flushed slightly as her own mother pointed out the obvious. "Y-yeah. she is something, alright."  
  
Okurii put an arm around her daughter's shoulder, giving her a one arm hug. "You know you can come talk to me or Marsti if you've got any worries, right?"  
  
Nepeta nodded, "Yeah, I know. And Aunt Joey too, if you two don't have enough experience on something."  
  
"Ah, yeah, that's true," Okurii chuckled. "Joey Claire does have a way with words, that's for sure."  
  


* * *

  
A doorbell rang, and Joey Claire opened up the front door a moment later. "Oh, hey, kids!"  
  
"Hello, Misses Claire," Madison Miller gave a short bow.  
  
"Hi, Miss Joey! Toko!" Her cousin, Kaylee Mckay, on the other hand, just ran inside upon seeing her teammate, Joey's own daughter, Tokoha, working on getting everything together at the last minute.  
  
"Hey, Kaylee!" Tokoha answered, and then the two ToQGers started chatting. Joey and Madison observed them for several moments- taking in how Tokoha was wearing a costume themed after a train conductor, while Kaylee was wearing a costume themed after the Staypuft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters.   
  
Needless to say, the ToQ Changer on their wrists only really matched Tokoha's costume.  
  
"How's everything going, Maddie?" Joey asked of Madison, leaning against her cane for support.  
  
"Alright," Madison answered. "The Seers want the Mystics patrolling bits Earth C later tonight, so since Uncle Rodney and Aunt Jen want me to take Kaylee Trick-or-Treating we figured we'd hit up the Diaspora 'hoods first for the ToQGers until they get tuckered out, then we'll bounce over to Earth C and meet up with the Overdrives for a bit since it gets darker later there."  
  
"Hitting two birds with one stone, eh?" Joey cracked a weary smile.  
  
"Yeah," Madison nodded. "Pretty much that. Except it's more like, several different types of getting plans checked off at once."  
  
"Are you meeting up with the rest of your team anywhere?" Joey asked. "I notice you're not wearing a costume right now, even if Kaylee is." Indeed, Madison was just wearing the usual Mystic Force uniform and while it was certainly festive looking, it was also just a uniform and not really anything that screamed Halloween.  
  
"A bunch of us are meeting up at Rose and June's. I'll be getting changed there," Madison answered. "Apparently Kanaya made a costume for me. I didn't get time to pick one so... it'll be a surprise, I guess."  
  
"Oh, why not?" Joey asked.  
  
"You know, the usual. Honestly, I dunno how Kanaya found the time to make a costume for me when she's been just as busy as I have," Madison answered. Cryptospeak translated: Ranger Duties got in the way.  
  
Joey nodded solemnly at that.   
  
"How about you, Misses Claire," Madison asked, "got any plans for tonight?"  
  
"Ah, well, it's been one of those days when my legs are acting up," Joey answered, a little bitterly as she shifted her weight a bit. "So I'll probably just float on my Arai wings all night answering the door. Mierfa'll be staying with me to help man the door if that gets too hard for me."  
  
Madison nodded. "And Misses Polypa's out somewhere?"  
  
"She and Tegiri are chapperoning-slash-playing security for a party down in Catherine," Joey answered. "Douglass wound up with a pretty bad case of food posioning at the last minute and he asked me if I knew anyone who'd be down to take over. So I voluntold 'em to help."  
  
"Ah, that's gotta suck for Mister Sharper," Madison said.  
  
"It does indeed," Joey nodded, then looked once more at Tokoha and Kaylee as they finished packing things into Tokoha's sylladex and declared themselves ready. "Well, you all have fun tonight," she said to them. "Don't stay up too late and make sure to call if you need me to send Mierfa to pick you up somewhere."  
  
"We will, Mom," Tokoha nodded.

* * *

"Yo Yo YO!" Miko waved as Madison and the two ToQgers walked up to the Egbert house on Diaspora. "Maddie! You made it just in time!"  
  
"I did?" Madison asked, taking in Miko's strange costume at the moment- some kind of white and blue striped jumpsuit? It looked incomplete, to be honest.  
  
"Yeah, the other ToQ's just linked in are are waiting inside," Miko answered. "C'mon c'mon c'moooon! Kanaya made us all matching team outfits!"  
  
"She did what now?" Madison asked, eyeing the jumpsuit Miko was wearing with a sudden feeling of mild dread.  
  
Indeed, entering the Egbert house found the ToQgers reuniting in the living room, as well as most of the Mystics being present and also wearing the fancy jumpsuits- the only ones missing were Rose and Fargo, but going by the sounds of discussion in the kitchen, they weren't far away.  
  
"Hey, Madison! Check it out!" Hector was the most composed of the new outfits- with some fancy chest armor, a purple tinted visor, and some absurdly complicated gauntlet on his right hand. "Guess what we are?"  
  
"Uhh..." Madison trailed off. "Some kind of video game character?"  
  
"Close enough!" Miko interjected, grabbing a gauntlet off of a chair and putting it on. "Weeeeee're...!!" She and Hector must have rehearsed this, because they struck a rather well coordinated pose together. "Glitch Tech Support!!"  
  
Serara giggled at Madison's confused expression- "I don't get it either, but the jumpsuit is rather flattering, wouldn't you say?"  
  
"I guess that explains how Kanaya got everything together if there's a whole team thing going on," Madison said, choosing to ignore Serara's question. "So that's all of us Mystics doing this?"  
  
"Kiiinda?" Miko wraggled her gauntlet clad hand side to side before attaching the vest over her chest. "Apparently Rose and Kanaya went couples themed instead, and then I found out that Fargo went and made her own costume too, but Kanaya made a fifth team costume anyways, which kinda confused me until she said she already had someone else to fill the role."  
  
"Someone else?" Madison asked.  
  
That was when Kanaya, and an unfamiliar human girl stepped down the stairs, with them conversing lightly.   
  
Kanaya was wearing what could only be described as Space-The-Fabric, a glittering, spiraling dress inlaid with what seemed to be tiny LED lights for pulsing, twinkling stars. She had on a helmet shaped like a tusked whale skull, a golden laced necklace that ended in what seemed to be a golden icecream cone, and a grey-dust-covered Relto Book attached to her hip via a golden rope-belt that seemed to be present more for style reasons related to the costume rather than easy access to a Linking book.  
  
As for the other girl... Madison nearly did a double take at the special purple lensed round glasses because she was pretty sure those were Holograms overlaid ontop of real glasses. (Madison did a double take and saw that the visor Hector was wearing was ALSO overlaid with a holographic filter.) Beyond that, there was a headphone set that was clearly projecting the hologram, and the girl was dressed up in the same jumpsuit and armor combo as the others.   
  
"Oh, Madison, glad to see you made it. This is Ridley," Kanaya said. "She's a recent volunteer at the Brooding Cavern. Ridley, this is Madison, Mystic Force Solaris Knight."  
  
"Hi," Madison waved.  
  
"Uh, hi," Ridley said in response with a short wave.  
  
"Now if you'll excuse me," Kanaya said, "I've got to check to see if Rose managed to help Fargo into her costume alright." She made for the kitchen, paused, then turned to Ridley, and smiled. "Thanks again for making the Holo-emitters."  
  
"Wasn't a problem," Ridley answered.  
  
And thus, Kanaya left, and the new girl just sort of awkwardly shuffled into a corner sofa and sat down and decaptchalogued a book and practically hid her face away behind it.  
  
Madison looked worried for a moment, but Miko caught that look and dismissed it with a smile. "Don't worry, she's just shy."  
  
Madison nodded, and then turned to take in the rest of the ToQger's costumes. Lizzy was dressed as some sort of alien cowboy monster. Karako was wearing some kind of ninja costume. Casey was dressed up as... Madison struggled with that for a moment, honestly, it looked like Casey was dressed up as an old fashioned American Higschool Football Quarterback, just without the football equipment, going by the fancy letterman jacket alone.   
  
As for Kagura, she was wearing a Panda costume. Just... A big old poofy looking Panda Costume.  
  
Likely, it was several sizes too large for her, but she was making it work regardless.  
  
As with the others, Their Morphers were in easy sight on their wrists, save for Lizzy, who probably had hers in her Sylladex, or in a pocket.  
  
"Presenting our resident Necromancer," Kanaya suddenly announced, and Fargo came sauntering into the room dressed in some oddly revealing clothes for Halloween- necessarily so, given the multitude of glowing blue tattoos across her body. The look was offset by a large brown cloak and a magical staff that--  
Madison realized immediately what that shape at the top of the head was. It was a 3D representation of the old Alternian Point of Origin symbol. The Red Pyramid Chevron beneath Two Purple and a singular Green Moon.  
  
"Muwhahaah!" The Cait Syth Fae girl cackled, a bit of lightning magic zapping across the top of the staff head. "I will reanimate all your bones to dance... dance until they can dance no more!!"   
  
"Oh wow!" Serara was suddenly all up in Fargo's staff's business, examining the intricate crafting work on the head of it. "You said it was hand made but this is amazing! It looks so professional!"  
  
"In my family, we started learning to make magic staves before we could even learn to fly!" Fargo said proudly, puffing up her chest and striking a rather heroic pose for a so-called necromancer. "Given we're literally the Mystic Force, I though it appropriate I make my own staff for magic casting, and it just so happened I got it finished for Halloween!"  
  
"It's quite something, that's for sure," Rose said, entering the room out of the Kitchen as well. Madison took her appearance in, and found that it was your basic average Mid-1800s Earth America Steampunk Fashion. How it was thematically tied to Kanaya's impressive dress didn't make any sense, but at the same time, seeing the Pink ranger standing next to the Yellow ranger like that, their costumes did somehow thematically mesh together in an appropriate way Madison couldn't quite figure out.   
  
"Yeah, sorry about the straps," Fargo hung her head. "I didn't realize I wouldn't be able to pin them in on my own when I was designing it."  
  
"It's fine," Rose said. "Certainly not the most practical costume, but since when was Halloween about practicality?" She smirked. "One year I saw this very young kid wandering around in a hand-made Spinosaurus costume made out of cardboard. Poor boy looked like he was barely able to walk in it, but he bore the weight regardless."  
  
"Alright, well," Madison clapped her hands. "I guess that means I'm the odd duck out? Where's my costume, Kanaya?"  
  
Kanaya smirked, and said, "Follow me."  
  
As Madison did follow Kanaya, she realized that June was absent, and asked, "Oh. Where's June?"  
  
Kanaya answered in the obvious. "She's helping someone else with their costume tonight."  
  


* * *

  
"Yo! June! Glad you could make it!" Vrissy grinned as she waved at June, who was waiting outside a train station, wearing not her usual Overdrive uniform, but instead her old Ninja Storm team uniform.   
  
"Like I'd miss this after yesterday?" June asked, grinning, and raising her hand in a high five motion.   
  
Vrissy caught it and asked, "You bring the makeup paints?"  
  
"Yep!" June nodded. "And the sealer too!"  
  
"C'mon, this way to my place," Vrissy said, turning back the way she'd came. "I gotta get all drawn up before it's time to meet up with everyone."  
  


* * *

  
Standing on the Control Room Balcony, Gordon Freeman sipped at his coffee, gazed out at the City of Atlantis below him... At all the movement of people moving around in the various parts of the city that was visible from here.  
  
"Oh, hello, Gordon, I didn't know you were out here.  
  
And tried not to let himself be startled as Keiko Ayano walked up with a cup of coffee as well.  
  
"Ah, yeah, just avoiding the hallways," Gordon said. "Too many kids in costumes. Throws me off. I'm not in your way, am I?"  
  
Keiko hummed in understanding, then said, "No, not at all. I'm mostly just getting out of the way right now, too. Gotta get a breath of fresh air before things get too crazy."  
  
"Yeah," Gordon frowned. "Feels like one of those nights. where something's about to go wrong."  
  
"...Huh? I was talking about the inevitable mid-hallway candy trades and transporter jams," Keiko answered. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Gordon groaned- "Damn it. I just taunted Murphy's Law, didn't I?"

* * *

Lothor observed on several monitor screens as the Overdrive Rangers went about their business on one world, and the Mystics and ToQGers went about their trick or treating on another.  
  
"Perfect," he grinned. "While they're all busy having fun and being kids, and the Kiramagers are half stuck in quarantine still... This is the perfect time to strike."  
  
He pulled out a strange looking insect themed remote control looking device, and tapped a few buttons. "My Ninja Rangers! Go as instructed! And take these Kelzaks with you for good measure too!"   
  
That done, he started typing away at a keyboard. "And now to sweeten the pot and ping the Atlantis Zord Bay Teleportation Server...!"  
  


* * *

  
Back on Atlantis, certain whirring motors sprung to life in the Ninja Lion Zord's bay- beginning the teleportation sequence of the Yellow Zord.  
  
An alarm was sent to the control room- and Amelia Banks frowned as her monitor beeped at her. "Uhoh." Right about then, Keiko and Gordon exited the balcony, returning to the interior of the Tower.  
  
Amelia looked up, "Keiko? Someone just pinged the Lion Zord Bay Teleporters."  
  
"What?" Keiko asked, hurrying over to the computer. "That's impossible! Without the Yellow Wind Morpher they can't-"  
  
"Someone spoofed its signal somehow!" Amelia answered. "I think they tricked the servers with the Red and Blue Wind Morphers but-"  
  


* * *

  
But the transport had already completed, and the Lion zord suddenly landed in the middle of the Diaspora forest outside of the Egbert house.  
  
The gathered teams of rangers, plus one guest, ran outside, and gazed upwards at the Zord, which was spewing out steam from improperly disconnected vents that were rapidly detaching and falling to the ground.  
  
"Uhhh... that's not supposed to be there, is it?" Hector asked.  
  
"No, it's not," Kanaya answered, and decaptchalogued her Morpher, aiming to call her team....  
  
 ** _"NINJA STAR!"_**  
  
And then a glowing energy blast shot at the ground near her feet- forcing her to stop the attempt before it started.  
  
Out from the steam cloud gathering around the Lion Zord's feet emerged four figures. A Green Samurai, A Red Air Ninja, A Blue Water Ninja... and a Yellow Earth Ninja.  
  
"Now now," The fake yellow said with a voice that was clearly not June Egbert's, because he was not a she by voice and body type matchup. "Let's not ruin the surprise, shall we?"  
  
Kelzaks began to teleport out of the fog around them.  
  
"Guys?" Miko started, "Something tells me we've got a setup on our hands."  
  
"Gee," The Red Ninja asked, "What gave it away, Miko?"  
  


* * *

  
Sally and Harry waited at a park bench, dressed in their costumes. Harry wore a bunch of torn up clothes and had made himself look like a Werewolf about to turn under the full moon with a careful application of stage makeup. Sally herself was wearing a costume from one of her mothers' past exploits- a snazzy black and red suit-dress whose dress-skirt section was made up of spiraling tendril like sections of cloth.   
  
Most anyone who was anyone on Earth C would recognize it as the infamous Dread Shuffle Dress worn by the Witch of Space. Few knew that it was a realchemized and re-tailored version of that very same dress born straight from the Captchalogue Code, hence it's striking authenticity.  
  
"Tavvy!" Sally waved at her teammate- dressed up in a rather convincing Medical Doctor's costume- as he approached them at the park where the Overdrive's meet up was supposed to happen. "Over here!"  
  
"Hey, sorry I'm late," Tavvy apologized. "Dad wanted to fix like, a dozen things about my costume that didn't need fixing before I could leave."  
  
"It's alright," Sally said. "We're still waiting on Vrissy and June to show up."  
  
That was when there was suddenly a burst of lightning further down the park road.  
  
Harry turned, and frowned- "Ah, I think there they are now, Sally."  
  
Indeed, June and Vrissy were running down the road towards them, being chased by Kelzaks the entire way.  
  
"We got trooooubleeeeee!" Vrissy shouted- not even done up in makeup or wearing her costume yet.  
  
"Big Trouble!" June shouted. "Run! RUN!!!"  
  
And so Sally and Tavvy and Harry started to run as their friends and teammates caught up with them.  
  


* * *

  
"Go ahead and suit up," The Blue Ninja said, waving her hands at the two teams of Rangers dismissively. "It's no fun beating up on children who aren't properly dressed for a fight."  
  
"Fine, if that's how you want it," Kanaya said, spinning her morpher in hand and snap-catching it into the active form. "Everyone ready?"

 _ **_"NOW TRANSFORMING!"_**_ The ToQger Morphers chimed out as the Kids activated their morphers. **__"Please Wait Behind the White Line!"__**  
  
The Mystics drew out their Morphers.  
  
"Ready!" They called out. _"MAGICAL SOURCE! MYSTIC FORCE!"_  
  
The ToQGer Trains went into the Morphers. _"TOQ CHANGE!"_  
  
 _"OVERDRIVE!"_ Kanaya struck her morpher down her left arm- _"ACCELERATE!"_  
  


* * *

  
That's when a pair of Crimson and Navy Thunder Rangers stepped out infront of the running rangers.  
  
"Sorry," The Crimson Ranger said. "But this is the end of the line."  
  
"Everyone ready?" Harry asked, readying his morpher with a tap of the button. __"SHINING!"__  
  
The Overdrives readied their Morphers. "READY!" they ran their morphers down their left arms. _"OVERDRIVE, ACCELERATE!"_  
  
 _"Kiramei Change!"_ Harry struck his morpher's wheel.   
  


* * *

  
In split screen across Lothor's projected screen- three Ranger Teams plus one Extra morphed before his eyes.  
  
"How marvelously synchronized," He grinned, then, into his radio, he spoke to an ally. "Necrolai, Moltor, Flurious, the Rangers are distracted. Make your move and start searching your targeted worlds for Enter's hidden base."  
  
Lothor didn't bother listening to their affirmatives as he brought up a map of Earth C- where some of tonight's action was going down. "Kurantula? You're up. Don't screw it up this time."  
  


* * *

  
 ** __"SHINY BREAKER!"__** Harry started swinging his weapon into the horde of Kelzaks as they descended onto him- and they didn't stand much of a chance against Harry's brute strength- which much to his own surprise seemed to have been subtly enhanced somewhat.  
  
"Drive Defender!" Sally shouted, summoning a protective shield vest over her chest, and then followed it up with some kind of blaster with two swappable energy ports- one themed after a cement mixer, and the other after a drill head. She then proceeded to blast streams of concrete at the Kelzak's feet, keeping them trapped in place long enough for--  
  
"Drive Blasters!" Vrissy and Tavvy blasted away at the Kelzaks with their side arms.   
  
Meanwhile- June fought against her former teammates one on two.  
  
"What's the matter, June!? Couldn't handle being Yellow so you went Dark on us!?" The Navy Ranger taunted- thrusting his staff weapon at her.  
  
June ignored the taunting and jumped over the attack, and mid-air swung her Slam Hammer out to block the Crimson Ranger's slashing attack with his own spear.  
  
She crouched against a tree to brace for a landing, and then leaped forwards into a roar- "HAMMER TIME!"   
  
The hammer glowed violet-purple, and June brought it down on the ground between the two Thunder Rangers.  
  
They leaped away in the ensuing explosion, darting up into the trees as if they were just streaks of glowing energy.

* * *

  
 _ **"Hawk Blaster!"**_  
  
 _ **"Sonic Fin!"**_  
  
 _ **"Lion Hammer!"**_  
  
 _ **"Weapons Combine!"**_ The Ninjas put their blaster weapons together, and took aim. "Wind Blaster, Hawk Mode!"  
  
 _"Weapons Linkup!"_ Casey called out- and the ToQgers threw all six of their weapons together- forming a blaster weapon with Lizzy's drill baton as the payload weapon. _**"Imagination Blaster!"**_  
  
 ** _"FIRE!"_** The two ranger teams shouted- launching energy blasts at eachother- which collided in the middle and exploded- sending Kelzaks flying in all directions.  
  
Ridley shrieked- hiding behind a tree as dirt and debris blew past her.  
  
  
"This is nuts!" Fargo shouted, ducking under a flying Kelzak. "What the hell kind of plan is this anyways!?"  
  
"One they're going to regret for stealing June's old Zord!" Rose shouted, and then pointed her Magistaff forwards. "TORNADO STRIKE!"  
  
A whirlwind launched forwards, blowing Kelzaks away into the air- but did nothing towards the approaching Green Samurai.  
  
"A little wind doesn't frighten me," he stated confidently-- and then was forced to dodge as Kanaya swung at him with her transformed Chainsaw.  
  
"What about Chainsaws?" Kanaya asked sharply, angling the _**whirrrrrring**_ weapon his way.  
  
"Those I'm a little more scared of," The Samurai admitted as Kanaya roared and lunged at him with disarming intent.  
  


* * *

  
Kurantula sneaked through the forests of Earth C... well. I say "Sneaked" but really it was only sneaking because there were two other major battles going on at that moment. It was really more of a march towards a certain destiny, as a horde of Bechats followed Kurantula in his wake.  
  
Enter stepped out from hiding with the Monstoneified Purfume Droid at his side.  
  
Kurantula tried to hide his surprise at being discovered, but found he couldn't quite mask it. "Enter!? So soon!?"  
  
"Bon Bon Bonjour, Mister Mofang," Enter said, scowling. "I'm heading you off here before you get anywhere near to being close to my base. Don't take it personally." With a snap of his fingers, a horde of not-quite Venjix Grinders appeared, the Monstone roared, and together they all started charging at Kurantula and his army of Bechats.  
  
"AH CRAP!" Kurantula shouted as he suddenly got involved in a fight he wasn't expecting just yet.  
  
Enter smirked, and then teleported away.  
  


* * *

  
Lothor smirked as he recorded the transport data. "Checkmate, Enter. That wasn't the smartest move you could have made after all."  
  
He turned towards the dark figure remaining in the room with him. "Well, Garuza? Here's your chance to get back at the guy for his latest attempt at ruining someone's reputation- yours, in this case. You gonna go get him, or should I do all the work myself?"  
  
Garuza snarled. "I can handle Enter."  
  
And with that, the Crystalian man stormed off, and Lothor scoffed. "You'd better hope you can."

* * *

A cry of _**_"KIRAKIRAMEI CHARGE!"_**_ suddenly interjected itself into the battle in the forrest- and the two Thunder Rangers were forced to dodge out of the trees as energy strikes blasted the spots they'd been moments sooner.  
  
Kiramei Red and Pink had joined the brawl, and both of them were wielding their super blaster weapons.  
  
"Great timing!" Harry shouted- kicking a Kelzak away.  
  
"We came as soon as we got the alert!" Atsuya said.  
  
"What's the sitch?" Nepeta asked, casually backhanding a Kelzak into one of its dazed companions.  
  
"Evil Thunder Rangers," Harry said simply.   
  
"Mind Controlled Evil Thunder Rangers!" June clarified, landing near them. "Damn it, these bastards did a real number in on them. They've been taunting me non stop since the fight began!"  
  
Then, they heard a roar of treads and the ground shook suddenly.  
  
Everyone looked up, and sure enough, two giant zords were driving their way.  
  
"Ahhh... They broke out the Thunder Zords too?" June swore.  
  


* * *

  
"That's enough!" The Red Air Ninja shouted. "To the Zords!"  
  
And then he leaped into the air as a Hawk Zord teleported in from one of those dark rifts Gilgamesh's empire liked to make use of- landing inside.  
  
"About Time!" The fake Yellow Ninja shouted, leaping into the Lion Zord.

"Talk to the 'phin!" the Blue Water Ninja shouted, kicking at a startled Serara and Tokoha, knocking them down, and then leaping into the air to join her Dolphin Zord that just appeared.  
  
"That's my cue to scramble!" The Samurai said before leaping into the trees away from Kanaya's chainsaw- he vanished into the cockpit of a giant green helicopter a moment later.  
  
Before Kanaya could call her own zord to action- as the others were already doing ( _"Galwit Mysto Gryphior!_ ") - Her morpher chimed and she pulled it out and flipped it open before putting it to her ear. "Yeah?"  
  
 _"Kanaya, we need you on Earth C,_ **Now!** _"_ Tavvy reported. _"It's Zord Time!"_  
  
Kanaya looked at the fight, as the ToQgers wrapped up the Kelzaks.  
  
"Go!" Tokoha shouted. "We'll help finish up here!"  
  
"Got it," Kanaya nodded, then, replied, "I'm on my way!" She ran back inside, Demorphed, and used her Relto Book a moment later to fast travel to the Beltus.  
  


* * *

  
"MASHIIN!" Mashins Heliko and Fiya arrived on the scene.  
  
"Drive Max Zords!" Four of the five Drivemax Zords appeared out of teleportation circles.  
  
Six Zords Versus Two in the middle of a city.  
  
"Let's get down to business," Crimson Thunder said, driving his Beetle tank towards the Red Dumptruck Zord Sally was driving. "To defeat you Rangers!"  
  
"Not a chance!" She flung a lever, and the two claw arms folded out to try and catch the zord dead in its tracks.  
  
Meanwhile: from inside the Black Supercar's cockpit, June shouted out, "Thunder Rangers! We don't have to fight! You're being mind controlled because of some stupid wish monster!"  
  
"That's where you're wrong, June," The Navy Ranger stated. "We've got more reasons than you think to fight you!"  
  
Then- his Beetle Zord rammed forwards and tried to ram June's Zord, forcing her to reverse drive out of the way.  
  
"Woah woah woah woah!" June shouted, backing up as fast as she could.  
  
Navy pressed his advantage, pressing forwards until Mashin Fiya suddenly rammed him from the side.  
  
"Snap out of it, you jerk!" Fiya shouted.  
  


* * *

  
 ** _"ZORDS COMBINE! STORM MEGAZORD!"_**  
  
 ** _"TRANSFORMATION! SAMURAI STAR MEGAZORD!"_**  
  
 ** _"GALWIT MYSTO UNIOS! TITAN MEGAZORD!"_**  
  
"Surrender and we'll go easy on you," Miko began, rolling her shoulders as the Titan Megazord readied its sword. "Don't want to scratch up June's Zord, after all."  
  
"Yeah, no, this Zord's mine now," The fake Yellow Ranger said.  
  
"And besides, it's two against one," The Samurai Ranger said from within his own Zord. "You can't afford to 'go easy' on us!"  
  
 _"RESSHA TRANSFORMATION!"_ And then an orange train appeared on the scene- transforming into a robot of its own. _**"BUILD-DAI-OH!"**_  
  
"Make that Two on Two!" Lizzy said, gripping at her train's controlls.  
  
"Just answer me this," Hector started. "Why are you doing this? Why are you fighting us like this?"  
  
"Isn't it obvious?" The Red Air Ranger asked. "We're fighting for a wish."  
  
"A wish?" Serara asked.  
  
"The Reason your Ninja Rangers and the last Overdrive Rangers never showed up again after they got Wished out of existence is because we're overwriting them with Our Wish," The Samurai Ranger said.   
  
"These Morphers might be your Ninja Rangers powers," the Blue Ranger said, grasping at her morpher. "But they weren't _ours._ " She pulled the power disk off of her morpher, and put it in the power slot. The other two did the same.  
  
"Bastards!" Fargo snarled. "What kind of wish could do that!?"  
  
"One you'll never find out about!" The Red Ranger shouted- "Power Disks, Locked and Dropped!"  
  
Then the Storm Megazord's chest opened, ejecting a large sphere that split open and from within it emerged a sword.  
  
The Storm Megazord grabbed the weapon and lunged at the Titan Megazord at the same time the Samurai Star launched itself at Build-Dai-Oh.  
  


* * *

  
"There's nothing to snap out of!" The Navy Thunder Ranger said, reversing away from Fiya, and pulling up near towards his Brother's Zord. "You see, everyone except for Lothor has been operating under a misguided assumption that Lothor's mind controlling us. We're not his slaves and never have been."  
  
"We're not even the Rangers June here was teamed up with to begin with," Crimson Thunder said, and then noticed a yellow bulldozer zord teleporting in. "Ah, and here's the last of the group."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean!?" June shouted.  
  
"You'll find out," Navy Thunder said- and then called out- _**"THUNDER MEGAZORD FORMATION!"**_  
  
"Shit," Sally looked at Kanaya's Zord, driving towards them, then made the call. "Everyone! Drivemax Megazord Formation!"  
  
Vrissy gripped at the controls of her Zord, and said, "Are you sure? We've never-"  
  
"THUNDER MEGAZORD! READY!" The completed Megazord stood opposite them.  
  
Vrissy swallowed- "Alright, no time like the present I guess!"  
  
They reached out for their morphers and tapped in the code to combine.  
  
"Drivemax Megazord...!"  
  
"Oh No You Don't!" The Thunder Megazord started marching forwards.  
  
 _ **_"MASHIN DRIJAN!"_**_ Only for Mashin Drijan to suddenly teleport into their path on a collision course drills first.  
  
 _ **WHAM!!!**_  
  
"FORMATION!" The Overdrives spun the wheels on their morphers, and their Zords began the combining process.  
  
As the Thunder Megazord reeled and tried to get the weight of Mashin Drijan off of them... Harry leaped into Drijan's cockpit and slammed Shiny Breaker into its slot and powered it on, driving back off of them, drills spinning and causing damage.  
  
"What the-!?" Navy Thunder started. "Why'd Silver wait to summon his Zord for!?"  
  
"Play Cryptic Games, get no answers!" Harry countered, throwing a lever, and whirlling Drijan's upper half around- whacking the Thunder Megazord with the claw arm. (The answer, of course, being that the repair work had only just been finished.)  
  
"Damn it, he's got a point there," Crimson Thunder grouched.  
  
And then- _**"Drivemax Megazord! READY!"** _The Drivemax Megazord formed for the first time under its new team, Picax and shovel in hand.  
  
"I'm feeling a bit of pressure here, Bro!" Navy began.  
  
"Suck it up, we've gotta hold them here until the plan finishes!" Crimson countered.

* * *

Garuza teleported into a darkened cave, sword at the ready...  
  
"So... this is where Enter hid away his base?" He asked, gazing into the darkness. "Fine, then, I suppose I'll-"  
  
That's when a pair of headlights flashed on in the darkness-- no, not headlights. Giant robot eyes.  
  
Garuza had only a moment to dodge out of the way before a giant massive robot burst forth from the cave- rocketing forwards through the trees on giant treads.   
  
"Damn it!" Garuza shouted. "If I'd just had Jouki...!"  
  


* * *

  
Lothor frowned, watching as the tracking for the moving base suddenly was scrambled by a teleport he couldn't track. Had it jumped dimensions??  
  
He turned towards Kurantula's feed--  
  


* * *

  
"GAH!" Kurantula shouted in pain as he got slammed into a tree. "Screw this! I'm outta here!" He teleported away.

"MONSTONEEEE!" The Monstone Bot roared.  
  


* * *

  
Lothor sighed. "It's so hard to find good help these days."  
  


* * *

  
As Build-Dai-Oh and the Samurai Star wrestled for dominance...  
  
"One to the Power of Three!" The Storm Megazord projected holograms of itself, one ot the left and one to the right, each with glowing swords.  
  
The Titan Megazord, on its knees, didn't have time to react to the incoming strike.  
  
The suddenly interjecting ToQ-Oh with a shield armament, however, did. **__"SHIELD RESSHA!"__** A forcefield shot out, blocking the trio of strikes from the Storm Megazord as they came crashing down.  
  
"Damn it, Three against Two?" The Fake Yellow Ranger asked. "Now that's unfair!"  
  
A Radio call came in then- Lothor spoke to them, _"Rangers. Fall Back. Mission Fail State Three."_  
  
"Roger that-" The Samurai Ranger said- kicking Build-Dai-Oh aside and then reverted to a Helicopter.  
  
"We'll have to play again some other day, Rangers!" The Blue Ranger taunted- and then all of the Ninja's Zords vanished in a teleportation burst of smoke-like magic.  
  


* * *

  
"Never mind then," Crimson Thunder changed his mind after hearing that order. "Our job's done, then!"  
  
"You're not going anywhere!!" June shouted- _ **"DRIVEMAX SABER!"**_  
  
The Shovel and Picax combined into a sword- and the Drivemax Megazord reved up the Shovel arm to power the sword.  
  
"I think we'll--!" Navy started to retreat- only for Heliko, Fiya, and Drijan to start harassing them and keeping them from leaving. "Hey! Go Away, Bugs!"  
  
"We're Gemstones, Not Bugs!" Heliko shouted, whirling around and slapping the Thunder Megazord in the face with her tail.  
  
 ** _"FULL POWER!"_** The Drivemax brought its sword down towards the Thunder Megazord- and the Mashins dove away at the last second, leaving the energy strike to lance through the Thunder Megazord- cleaving it straight down the middle.  
  
For a moment, nobody could believe it.  
  
But then the two halves suddenly vanished in bursts of smoke. A Ninja Trick. All that had been destroyed at that last second was a substitute.  
  
"Oh COME ON!" June shouted, frustrated.

* * *

Harley flinched at the smell of the spray cast into the room, but relaxed once she saw its effects on the hallucinations she'd been having since getting hit by the spray the day before. That was to say, the 'filter' it'd applied faded out of sight entirely.  
  
Tomo pulled back the collar of their shirt enough to check one of their shoulders and sighed in relief, "Oh thank god. Freckles! Never thought I'd miss those!"  
  
It was about a minute later that Harley and Tomo were let out of the isolation room, with Equius stumbling out of his own isolation room a few seconds after they did, blindfolded.  
  
"Uh... Equius?" Tomo began, "Why are you wearing a blindfold...?"  
  
"Personal challenge," Equius answered simply, then he walked forwards and ran face first into the wall on the other side of the door he walked out of. "...I meant to do that." He said simply.  
  
Harley giggled, and patted her teammate on the shoulder. "Whatever you say, Equius."  
  
They started walking to the Lounge room out of force of habbit, and after about two more minutes of Equius running into things, he finally took the blindfold off and scowled. "And I was doing so well in the isolation room, too."  
  
"Dude, those rooms are tiny compared to the rest of the Ship," Tomo said, astonished. "Of course you'd get the spatial awareness for a room blindfolded before you'd get a whole ship."  
  
They arrived in the lounge to find Nepeta and Atsuya puzzling over diagrams of... Megazords? Harry was over in a corner talking with Sally and June about something, and-- Huh. Kanaya and Rose were here too, just holding eachother and sitting on a couch together.  
  
"...I get the feeling we missed something big," Harley said.  
  
"Ah, yeah," Atsuya looked up. "Something big sums it up, alright."  
  
It didn't take long for the Kiramagers to get caught up on everything, at which point, Tomo ran their hands through their hair, "Fucking Hell! Of COURSE it'd have to be wishes! Wishes this, wishes that! Wishes wishes wishes! Well I wish we didn't have to deal with Wishes that were actually granted!"  
  
"Let's not utter that paradox of a wish infront of any wish granters," Equius said.   
  
Harley winced, "Yeeeah. Not without some kind of reset button atleast. That kinda wish could make everything go nuts."  
  
Pointedly ignoring the comment about the reset button, Tomo crossed their arms over their chest, and said, "That's why I said what I said! Literal Wish Granting is a total kettle of fish and a can of worms all rolled up into one!"  
  
"That's why I'll be starting to hunt down that probable wish stone here on Earth C," Harry said, joining their conversation with June and Sally. "If whoever these fake Rangers are were brought here at the expense of June's old team being wished out of existence..."  
  
"The only way we're bringing my team or the old Overdrives back is if we can find the wish granting device and wish them back," June took over from there.   
  
"Besides that," Sally growled, "these jerks attacked us on Halloween for no good reason! I wanna get some payback!"  
  
Midway through that sentence, Hiromu and Youko entered the lounge, and seeing the opportunity presented, Youko flawlessly interjected: "It wasn't no good reason."  
  
"Really? What reason was that?" June asked.  
  
"Distraction," Hiromu said, approaching the hologram table and tapping at the controls. A Video feed came back- satellite footage, or close enough, it seemed. "Somewhere in the wilderness, the Beltus detected several small teleportation bursts, as well as one massive one, which is what tripped the sensors and alerted the crew to backup the last hour of footage."  
  
"There were signs of ground battle here-" Youko pointed at part of the forest in the imagery. "We got sent to investigate, and found weapon marks from Bechat staves in the ground and trees, and remains of Venjix Grinders scattered about."  
  
"Ryujii's investigating the cave," Hiromu pointed at another part of the map, "here. Where the large teleportation event was detected. He's found massive tire-treads so far that exit the cave and then vanish a short while outside of it. He's also found footprints in the dirt matching Garuza's armor."  
  
"Enter," Rose said suddenly, getting up, with Kanaya joining her a moment later. "This whole thing was an attempt to hunt down Enter and keep us from interfering with it."  
  
"A few other Ranger teams got called out to fight against some forces lead by Gilgamesh Generals, too," Youko said. "They weren't expecting the trouble, and ran pretty quickly, but we think they were searching for him on other worlds, too."  
  
"And just got lucky here," Kanaya summarized.  
  
"The question is," Nepeta started, "why was Enter hiding on Earth C?"  
  
"Convenience, probably," Harley shrugged. "Plus. Why hide out on some uninhabited world that energy signatures would stand out on when you can hide on an entire world full of energy signatures that you can blend into? That Garuza's been attacking here's probably just Enter thumbing his nose at 'em."  
  
"A better question," Rose frowned, "is where did Enter go Next?"  
  
Before anyone could answer that, the Kiramager's morphers chimed.  
  
Atsuya struck at his morpher's wheel, and frowned. "Well, I know where we're going next, at any rate."  
  


* * *

  
The Kiramagers, plus Sally, went through the process of quick-traveling to Atlantis, and then took a Jumper ride to the Daedalus. Rose, June, and Kanaya had decided to return to Diaspora in an attempt to salvage their Halloween with the rest of the Overdrives and the ToQGers.  
  
"Sorry for the short notice, Rangers," Gina said, meeting them at the 302 Bay on the opposite side of the ship. "But Mabushiina's ready to perform Jouki's transfer and we didn't want to postpone it any longer than necessary after the latest showing Gilgamesh's forces put up."  
  
"So, one of us will be in Express, right?" Harley asked.   
  
"Yep," Gina nodded. "The rest are to be standing guard incase something goes horribly wrong."  
  
"Like what?" Harry asked. "Evil Ranger attack?" Eyes glanced towards him, and Sally gave him a specific look that made him ask, "Too soon?"  
  
"Just a bit," Sally nodded.  
  
It didn't take long to cross the width of the Daedalus, comparatively speaking, and Gina gave them a breakdown of the process along the way, which made it go faster than it likely seemed.  
  
Even so, Sally asked for a too-long, didn't-listen summary, which Gina provided as they arrived.  
  
"Essentially, we've locked Jouki into a restraining grip that will allow us to pull Jouki's uncorrupted section away from the rest of his body in the Smog formation," Gina condensed it down. "As Mabushiina pulls his consciousness out of that fragment of stone and transfers it into the Aqua Stone, the restraints will begin compressing Jouki's body, as well as bombarding it with Express's controlling beams. Together, this should encourage Jouki's body to revert into a gemstone at a small size and remain inert after the process is completed. If, after we've separated Jouki from his body, that doesn't work and a rampage seems imminent, then we'll take emergency action to jettison him from the Zord Bay into space."  
  
And so they arrived at the other 302 Bay, where Jouki lay inside a large complicated machine on one end of the bay next to the active forcefield keeping all the air inside the hangar. Mabushiina stood near his left foot, idly patting at one of the massive claws.  
  
Opposite them, near the end of the bay everyone walked in at, was a similar machine, except compressed down into the smallest scale imaginable, where the Aqua-and-white marbled Kiramei Stone lay within its focusing grips.  
  
"Hi everyone," Jouki said quietly- well, as quietly as a building sized purple-black train themed dinosaur could say at that scale in such an enclosed space.  
  
"Jouki!" Heliko decaptchalogued from Nepeta's Morpher- "We're here! You doing okay?"  
  
"I'll be better once i'm sure Garuza won't come after me again," Jouki said.  
  
"We'll get you right as rain as soon as we can," Princess Mabushiina said, and then made her way overtowards where the Kiramagers were. "Hello, everyone. I'm glad you could make it."  
  
"We wouldn't miss this!" Fiya said, decpatchaloging from Atsuya's Morpher. The other Kiramei Stones did so as well- joining in agreement with his statement.  
  
"Of course," Mabushiina giggled, then, eyed Harry. "Kiramei Silver. I don't think we've had a proper chance to talk since your latest experience. We'll have to talk more later about that."  
  
"Ah, sure," Harry nodded.  
  
"Esprez," Mabushiina turned towards one half of Mashin Express. "Are you ready to help?"  
  
"As ready as I can be," Esprez nodded.  
  
"I'll pilot, if that's okay?" Harley asked, readying her morpher.  
  
Mabushiina nodded. "Of course!"  
  
"We should also suit up, just in case," Atsuya said, and received nods from the others.  
  
"If you'll excuse me," Gina began, "I'll be in the observation lounge." And she made herself scarce as the Kiramagers stood in line, and tapped their morphers.  
  
 ** __"KIRAMEI GO!"/"SHINING!"__**  
  
As the "KI! RA! MEI!" count went off, Sally readied her morpher, and ran it down her arm, _"Overdrive, Accelerate!"_  
  
 _"Kiramei Change!"_ The Kiramagers spun the wheels of their Morphers.  
  
Seven flashes of light filled the room, and then vanished with twin cries of "OH SHINE!" and "LET'S SPARKLE!"  
  
"Mashin Express!" Esprez called out, combining with Drybe, and then growing to about a comfortable race-car size to float in the middle of the bay- taking up not too much space overall.  
  
Harley leaped onboard with a teleport, and the others readied themselves for anything going wrong.  
  
"Alright then!" Mabushiina took center stage between the two Mashin Cages, she tapped her radio. "Colonel Caldwell, Please beam in the focus object! We're ready to begin."  
  
 _"Roger that."_  
  
 _ **PVVVVM-SHING!**_  
  
A massive device that looked like a magnifying glass housed inside of the rough framework of a Stargate appeared next to Mabushiina.  
  
She took a weary look at it- Atsuya thought as he saw her sparkles dim for a moment before surging again- and then began chanting in Crystalian, which got automatically translated thanks to Stargate translation magic.  
  
"By the power of one of the Four Legendary Titans of Crystalia, as told by the myth of the Kanae Ma Stones-" Mabushiina lifted her right arm upwards, signaling Express to begin casting a beam of light down upon Jouki.   
  
"-Focused through this lense of clarity..." Her arm fell towards the crystal, which began to glow as well, then, she lifted her left hand towards Jouki. "Let the dimming Kiramental of one stone-"   
  
Jouki's eyes dimmed as the cage around him began to guide a dissasembly- lifting his head and spine section off of his core body.   
  
"Be transferred to shine on in another, unpolished stone-" Maubshiina motioned through the lense towards the Aqua stone, which began to glow. Jouki's two car sections split apart, and the front car section, containing his head was brought forwards closer into Express' light and closer towards the focusing lense.  
  
"So that they may live on, free of corruption- free of Jamental!" Mabushiina then brought both of her hands together into a sharp clap as she stepped backwards.  
  
A beam of glimmering light began to drain out of Jouki, transferring through the lense, and refocused head on into the Aqua Kiramei Stone.  
  
Mabushiina held her hands out, focusing on the beam and tyring to keep it from spiraling out of control.  
  
As the Kiramagers watched, the container holding the Aqua Kiramei Stone began to relax its constriction- the stone held within its grasp was beginning to increase in size. Meanwhile, the clamps holding onto Jouki's body began to compress- and his form began visibly shrinking with brief pulses of purple light.  
  
Of the Rangers, Atsuya was really the only one of the other Rangers who had any idea of the true sight of what was going on- sure, the others saw the beam of light, but Atsuya saw something else.  
  
He watched as bright purple sparkles focused in Jouki's head flowed out through the beam, and shifted towards a bright blue as they passed through the lense, before entering into the Aqua Kiramei Stone that had been practically devoid of sparkles the entire time until now.  
  
However, Atsuya also saw a surge of darker purple within Jouki's main body surging as the main body was rotated around and the chainsaw arm reattached to the backside, leaving only a quarter gap remaining for the rest of Jouki's body. It was smoky, and whispy, and more like sparking flames rearing to ignite versus the sparkling energy of Jouki's very essence.  
  
Jamental, that was all it could be.   
  
It surged, and it surged, but it couldn't break out of the restraining clamps.  
  
Meanwhile, if he looked to Jouki's head section, it was almost startlingly colorless by this point. The sparkling energy was flowing out rapidly like sand exiting a hourglass, and it was leaving behind an almost transparent shell in its wake.  
  
The compression clamps were shrinking that part of Jouki's body down as well, keeping it tied in sized lockstep with the rest of the gemstone. Make it seem like Jouki was squeezing out of his old body into his new one.  
  
Atsuya felt like there could have been so many other potential roads that went by after rescuing Jouki, but none of them had been what had happened here. Potential had been squandered through Garuza's corrupting magic and possessive control over Jouki.  
  
Jouki was finally extracted fully from his body, and the remaining portion of his former shell was returned to the rest, and compressed down fully into the smallest Gemstone size that Jouki's body could have been compressed down to. Mabushiina signaled Express, and the light shut down.  
  
Mabushiina was continuing to trend to the stream of energy, as if finishing up some after-part of the process even though Jouki's energy was fully within the Aqua Kiramei Stone... a stone that was still growing in size, and whose white marbling had essentially faded from sight as the more solid aqua blue of the Blue Diamond making up the other Gemstone turned translucent.  
  
Finally, Mabushiina seemed fit to cut the stream, and then the process was done.  
  
Atsuya saw a massive glimmering force within the Aqua Kiramei Stone... and a simmering burst of dark flames within Jouki's old stone, waiting to be unleashed.  
  
Mabushiina went over to Jouki's stone, and gazed at it, as if interpreting what she was seeing compared to something she thought she should be seeing instead.  
  
"Atsuya?" She turned her back to the stone. The dark energy flared.  
  
"Wait!" Atsuya shouted-- But it was too late.  
  
The moment Mabushiina's back was fully turned- the Black and Purple Kiramei Stone suddenly burst forth from its cage with a flare of Jamental energy.  
  
Mabushiina was struck square in the back and sent flying through the air- Harley leaped out of Express, grabbing her- and everyone else ran forwards as the tiny Kiramei stone brust out of its enclosure and began shifting- transforming, even- and growing in size.  
  
Harley landed, holding an unconscious princess, and by the time the Kiramagers had cleared the Hangar bay, the Black and Purple Kiramei Stone had transformed into Smog Jouki- except smaller in scale. Comparable to the Monstone Atronach, at a scale capable of fighting the Rangers without their Mashin partners.  
  
Express tried shining her light down on the Train Zord- but it roared- dark energy flaring out and pushing it away--  
  
Atsuya didn't realize it, but that transformation, and the burst it had made in escaping, had diminished the flames. They were slowly starting to grow back up again, but for now the Monstone acting Mashin was complacent to ignore Express' energy beams.  
  
Harry ran forwards- and tackled the small sized Mashin- Smog Jouki's chainsaw tail revved, carving into the floor as it tried to fight back against the Silver Kiramager.  
  
He tried pushing it out towards the forceshield keeping the air in, but Smog Jouki was fighting back just as hard to stay inside- clawed feet and tail digging into the metal flooring and keeping itself rooted.  
  
"Someone knock that tail out!" Harry shouted- straining against the Monstone Mashin.   
  
"DRIVE LANCE!" Sally leaped in, jamming her weapon into the ground, trying to wedge Jouki's tail out of the ground. She growled- putting pressure on her weapon which was visibly starting to bend under the strain. "COME OOOONN!"  
  
"Everyone!" Atsuya called out. "Kiramei Rush Stream!"  
  
"RIGHT!"   
  
Tomo and Equius readied their Sword and Blaster, Nepeta and Atsuya combined their weapons into the Kiramei Busters.  
  
 _ **_"KIRAMEI CHARGE!" / "KIRAKRIAMEI CHARGE!"_**_  
  
Harley stood from where she'd landed and focused on Sally and Harry, aiming to teleport them out the minute the others fired.  
  
"FIRE!" the Kiramagers fired off- aiming directly at Smog Jouki.  
  
Harley clapped her hands- ZAP! - Sally and Harry were suddenly several feet to Harley's left of where they'd been before- and the shots and slice hit Smog Jouki, blasting the Monstone Mashin out of the trench and blowing it through the rest of the cradle cage, and seemingly out the airlock.  
  
Seemingly.  
  
Because as the smoke cleared, it became abundantly clear that Jouki had started to grow at the last moment- and had managed to grab onto the end of the 302 Bay runway with its jaw.  
  
"Oh come on!" Sally shouted. "That's cheating!"  
  
The Chainsaw Tail visibly started spinning- purple flames began growing within Jouki's mouth.  
  
Harry reacted before anyone else did.  
  
 ** __"SHINY BREAKER!"__** the weapon came out, and was hurled forwards at Jouki's snout with a massive burst of flame and a _**SPIKOOOOOOOM!**_  
  
The weapon passed through the forcefield and smashed into Jouki's nose- startling the Mashin and forcing it to open its mouth.  
  
Burn Blacker, however, fired off regardless- and the burning propulsive force of the flames smashed against the oxygen forcefield and prevented the flames from enetring the bay, pushing Jouki off and away like a rocket.  
  
Once the flames stopped, it was clear that Jouki had been blown out of orbit of not only the Daedalus, but also any stable in-atmosphere orbit as well. The Dinosaur train's arms and legs kicked in the air before the Mashin grew in size yet again- growing bigger, and probably up to its full size.  
  
The chainsaw started revving again- flames began building again.  
  
But the damage had been done. Jouki's mass was caught up in the pull of the planet below, and the Monstone acting Mashin plummeted towards the surface below.  
  
Flashes of red light- re-entry- obscured Jouki's form, and then faded from sight.  
  
"...Well," Express said quietly. "That was... an odd situation."  
  
"We need to check on if he's intact after landing," Atsuya said. "If we only return a bunch of shattered gemstone fragments to Garuza, he's going to kill us."  
  
"I have to get Shiny Breaker back anyways," Harry said. "You all go check on Mabushiina. I'll do that."  
  
He leaped onto Express, and they departed off a few moments later.  
  


* * *

  
And so check they did.  
  
Express exited a brief hyperspace window, and emerged outside of a large smoking crater on the abandoned planet's surface where the black-purple default gemstone form of that Kiramei Stone they'd just fought lay half burried in the rock- steaming red from the heat of re-entry, but otherwise seemingly intact.  
  
"How'd it survive that?" Harry asked.  
  
"I have no idea," Express said simply in response. "A fall from that height should have shattered a Kiramei Stone period."  
  
"Well... it did revert to a default form," Harry said. "Maybe it did that to fix the damage it took on impact?"  
  
"Who knows," Express said, casting her energy beams onto Jouki's stone form- lifting it into the air and shrinking it down to a manageable size. "Oh. Good Grief. That shouldn't be possible either."  
  
"What happened?" Harry asked. "Beyond it shrinking, I mean."  
  
"It's BLANK, and I don't just mean of personality- that's what we were aiming for-" Express said. "But I mean. No corruption, no damage, not ANYTHING. It's as brand new as if it had just been pulled out of the ground."  
  
Harry frowned. "That's... That should be impossible, shouldn't it?"  
  
"...Not unless someone wished it," Express said quietly- and a little bit fearful. "...We have to return this to Garuza. I don't want this thing anywhere NEAR us after today."  
  
"Will you be able to combine with it if we have to take it over again?" Harry asked.  
  
"I'm not even going to bother checking until we have to deal with it," Express answered. "But if I have to? Sure, I'll push through it. But. God. The fewer times I have to combine with this thing the better!"  
  


* * *

  
With Jouki's stone delivered and temporarily secured in a secure steel vault that was presently residing in Colonel Caldwell's Sylladex, Harry entered the Daedalus' infirmary, finding Princess Mabushiina still out of it, with an isolation suit wearing Doctor Kae fretting over her, and the Kiramagers watching on with tense looks in their eyes.  
  
"How is she?" He asked.  
  
"Still out cold," Sally answered.   
  
"She absorbed a lot of the energy Jouki put out when he broke free," Atsuya said. "I can see it whirling around in her, trying to suffocate her Kiramental." After a moment, he said, "It's Garuza's Jamental."  
  
"There has to be something we can do," Harry started, looking to Esprez's stone, floating over his shoulder. "Esprez, could your light maybe...?"  
  
"I don't know," She shook side to side. "I'm hesitant to even try after... after what we just went through."  
  
Harry gazed at the unconscious Crystalian Princess...  
  
There had to be something he could do.  
  
He stood there, watching on, even as Gina told them all to go home and rest. The conversation that followed didn't resonate with Harry as he felt that there had to be something he could do.   
  
He had to do something.  
  
While Gina was trying to convince them otherwise, Harry stepped forwards- sure Sally tried reaching out to stop him- but he moved.  
  
He moved and he reached out and grabbed the Princess's hand and-  
  


* * *

  
Beet Jueki Stag awoke with a splitting headache, and wasn't that something interesting?  
  
No, more concerning to the point was why he now had doubled memories of certain battles from a new yet familiar perspective.  
  
Somehow, he now had a small smattering of Jin's memories.   
  
Jueki did and did not appreciate the sudden memento of his partner in its own respects. He appreciated it for having a small fraction of Jin Masato, his partner, back in his life once more. He did not appreciate it because it seemed those memories were scattered fragments that hadn't been properly absorbed by what his brain could only understand in format as a newly partitioned drive within his headspace. That spoke to unfortunate implications.  
  
What had happened exactly?  
  
He searched his own memories, and came up short after the Kiramei Stone fragments shattered and--  
  
"Oh," he said simply. "That would explain things."  
  
"Oh, you're awake?" Mei suddenly leaned over his head, gazing at him.   
  
"I am," Jueki said, sitting up once she moved out of the way. "How long was I out?"  
  
"Almost all day," Mei answered. "Longer than Harry and I were."  
  
"Of course I was," Jueki shook his head.   
  
Maybe it wasn't a coincidence that he'd grabbed the Beet Buster morpher after all? Gina certainly refused to let them switch colors once first activated. After all---  
Mei's morpher chimed suddenly, and she decaptchalogued it as if she'd been using a Sylladex all her life. (Which, Jueki supposed, was a true statement considering her memories of living only went back as far as she'd been conscious in this specific dimension.) She gazed at the screen, and her unreadable, unmoving face seemed concerned by the way her eyes shifted.   
  
"Oh. That's not good." She said simply.  
  
"What's that?" Jueki asked.  
  
"It seems the unconsciousness bug has left us to infect Princess Mabushiina and to re-assault Harry." Mae said, and Jueki felt there was some kind of story he was missing. "Doctor Kae is advising us, and the other Go-Busters to steer clear of them until she's certain the energy effect won't attack either of us, either."  
Jueki had no idea what to make of this turn of events, save that--  
  
"Wait," he started. "Why the other Go-Busters?"  
  
Mei gave him a look that he interpreted as having a sympathetic smile even if she didn't have a visible mouth. "There's a lot we need to catch you up on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You MAY think it a last minute edit, but no, Rose and Kanaya's halloween costumes were chosen MONTHS ago. 
> 
> The Mystics are cosplaying as Glitch Techs for this Halloween- save for Fargo here, who's literally wearing a costume she wears in the original novel I've been writing that she originates from. 
> 
> Ridley, too, being from Glitch Techs like Miko and Hector, was written into this just a few days before Season Two of Glitch Techs released on Netflix. I had no idea what route her character was going to take at the time. Needless to say, I learned soon after. 
> 
> The ToQGer kids here are wearing costumes loosely based on their Super Sentai counterparts from the actual Ressha Sentai ToQGer.  
> \---  
> So YEAH. We get some mild explanation as to what's been going on with the Ninja Storm Rangers. 
> 
> This was something that DID get changed during the whole "Wish Stone" Editing that went on. It was originally going to just be Mind Control, but then while writing out what was going to happen here... I realized it just COULDN'T be that easy, what with the whole 'erased from memory' thing going on. There's a bit more of a reveal to build up to, but...
> 
> Hehehe.
> 
> Well. Let's just say that what's implied here in this chapter isn't the full story.
> 
> \---
> 
> AAAAAAND with this whole turn of events, Jouki is PROPERLY saved in a way that lets me return his body to Garuza without leaving the poor Mashin's mind to suffer under it. 
> 
> Let's give him a little while to rest. I think he's deserved it. Besides, it's Harry and Mabushiina's turn to boil under the spotlight for a time.   
> \---
> 
> Next WRITTEN CHAPTER: MINISODE: Mera Mera Mera
> 
> However, I MAAAY sneak in a small artwork piece before then. If I get the time to work on it, hahaha. It's been a busy month >>;;;


	18. INTERMISSION: Mera Mera Mera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback to Another Time, and another Overdrive Ranger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Character Death.  
> Phoenix Mythology.  
> Implied Reincarnation.

"It's over, Farurin," The Knight said, standing over the Fae man- a Salamander of Alfheim- who was dangling off the edge of a cliff over a boiling pit of lava. "I have the Stone," he lifted a chunk of Blue Rock. "You've failed."  
  
"Maybe you think you've won," Farurin said, narrowing his crimson eyes at the armored knight. "But know this, Korrag. You'll die one day because of that overconfidence. One stone doesn't a victory make."  
  
"Ratchet up the tension of this scene as much as you'd like," The Knight, Korrag, said. "It won't change the fact that your fate is to burn up in this underground pit where your flight magic is incapable of working."  
  
"I may burn up," Farurin said, grinning madly. "But I'll still be the star that shines in the night sky, burning hotter and longer than you ever will!"  
  
"Do you have any more last words?" Korrag asked. "Or shall I send you onto your fate now?"  
  
"I've got one thing to say," Farurin said, grunting as he struggled to hang on. "Operation Overdrive is the Number One Team."  
  
"You don't even have your powers, or your teammates," Korrag said. "I've killed them all, already."  
  
"Who said I was talking about myself?" Farurin asked. "NOW the tension's maxed out."  
  
And then he let go, falling towards the pit below.  
  
Korrag didn't watch, turning away with his prize in hand.  
  
Had he stayed, however, he would have seen a fire covered bird swoop in at the last second, releasing a burning crimson feather into the air as it salvaged something important- that Fae's Remain Light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I didn't get time to do that piece of artwork. >>;;;
> 
> Also, a short chapter here- yep, that was Ally, and yessss. That was indeed the Overdrive Red who got 'wished' out of existence a while back. Really, the truth is he and his team got wished into random points in time. 
> 
> Next chapter: MSK: 01x14: Kurantula Appears! Jouki's fate- It's a (RING) Toss Up! 
> 
> See you monday.
> 
> \---  
> EDIT:10/19/20: Patch Note, adjusted MINISODE title to INTERMISSION.


	19. MSK: 01x14: Kurantula Appears! Jouki's fate- It's a (RING) Toss Up!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things go according to plan for everyone in every which way imaginable. Yessiree. Nothing wrong going on here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Nightmare sequence.  
> Falling from High Orbit.  
> Medical Exam.  
> Gambit Pileup.  
> Having an explosion happen nearly point blank range.  
> Nearly getting sucked into a giant vacuum cleaner.  
> Immobilization via partial time dilation.  
> Kurantula has a fight with the Mashin Kids.  
> Very mild picture embedding/linkage.

Something was wrong.  
  
Harry Anderson Harley-Lalonde was standing in the KIramager Lounge as Mabushiina tied a collar onto a tiny, palm-sized Smog Jouki, and connected it to the Aqua Kiramei Stone.  
  
"Now to transfer Jouki along..." Mabushiina began, and then started to sing something akin to jibberish.  
  
The Kiramagers came in, arms linked in couple pairs- Nepeta and Atsuya, Harley and Tomo.... Equius was blindfolded for some reason??  
  
Their conversation was blank- silent- their mouths moving but nothing but the sound of roaring flames coming out.  
  
Harry looked at Jouki, who snarled- and tore free of the collar, before belching a tiny purple flame in Mabushiina's face.  
  
"Oh!" She stopped singing.. And then as if she'd been a Human Form Replicator all along and was hit by a Replicator Disruptor- fell apart into a pile of dust.  
  
Harry felt panic start to set in as Jouki suddenly grew before him, starting to smash through the table he'd been standing in.  
  
The other Kiramagers didn't notice it at all- Nepeta was singing now about how much she wanted to kiss Atsuya. Harley and Tomo were already making out in the corner. This was Not the time or the place, really.  
  
Harry lunged at Jouki, hurtling both of them out the window into the Zord Bay.  
  
The Kiramei Stones were there, along the wall... in Mashin form, except... Cartoons?   
  
"Harry! You have to get up!" Fiya shouted.  
  
"Get up, Kiramei Silver!" Mahha declared.  
  
"You gotta fight, Harry!" Heliko insisted.  
  
"Beat this! Beat this!" Jetta encouraged.  
  
"Join the Shovellow Squad!!" Shovellow declared, non helpfully.  
  
"GATTAI! GATTAI!" The trio of young Mashins called out.  
  
"Transform, Harry!" Esprez shouted the only useful advice, and Harry swiped at his Morpher... his oddly purple colored Morpher, but he transformed regardless.  
Jouki got to his feet, growing in size, but Harry grew to match.  
  
They tussled, even as the back wall of the Zord bay lifted up into the air, exposing everything to the hard, harsh vacuum of space.  
  
Jouki and Harry were blown out into the cold expanse and hard vacuum of space... but Harry didn't feel it at all.  
  
Instead, he felt the heat of Re-entry as he and Jouki fell.  
  
Fell.  
  
FELL.  
  
Earth C loomed below them- growing larger and larger by the second.  
  
Harry tapped his Morpher again- He had to Transform and escape this---!  
  
Kiramei Stone fragments flew out of the Morpher as he spun it, had to be faster- had to be faster...  
  
And then two giant gemstones hit the earth- one dark purple and black, the other bright blue and crystalline--  
  


* * *

  
 **EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 1ST, 2012.**  
  
Harry woke up, covered in sweat, and gasping for breath, setting off alarms across the Daedalus' infirmary.

* * *

_**"When people Shine, Miracles are Born, Dus!" Duston narrated.** _   
  
_**"Kiramental is the proof of those who can change the future, Dus!"** _   
  
_**"KIRAMEI, GO!!!!" The voice on the Morphers exclaimed.** _   
  
[ _**MASHIN SENTAI: KIRAMAGER** _ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffuDLZEVUnY)

* * *

Harry blinked as Doctor Janet Fraiser finished shining a pen light into his eyes.   
  
"Is that really necessary?" He asked.  
  
"No," Janet quipped. "I just thought I'd do it for the fun of it." Harry gave her a look that her sarcasam wasn't appreciated. "Yes, it's necessary, also fascinating. Your eyes are positively reflective now"  
  
"And they weren't before?" Harry asked. "I mean, God Dog DNA and whatnot."  
  
"According to your medical history? Not to this degree," Janet answered. "Less raw animal, more synthetic reflective stickers."  
  
"Like the kind they stick on Mailboxes so people don't run over them at night?" Harry asked.  
  
"Basically, yes," Janet nodded, then went on with her work, typing into a Keyboard.  
  
Harry and Mabushiina both had woken up and been moved to Atlantis' infirmary for ease of access to a lot more advanced equipment than the Daedalus had, and it wasn't long before scans and tests of all kind were being performed.  
  
The dreaded pen light was just the latest in a long series of tests he was going to have to endure.  
  
At least Equius was waiting around to keep him company. Or stand guard. One of the two, and Harry wasn't sure scenario which he preferred within his own head.  
  


* * *

  
"Seers are predicting that Garuza's going to be trying something today," Nepeta said, sitting down with the rest of her team, sans Equius, in the Atlantis Cafeteria with a tray of food.  
  
"Where?" Atsuya asked, fighting back a yawn after the late night they'd all suffered, worrying over Harry and Mabushiina.   
  
"Nowhere Exact Yet," Nepeta answered. "But if we're lucky, Old Athos. Garuza seems to like choosing it for some reason."  
  
"Well, the last time there were the Kiramei Stones on it," Harley said, frowning. "And probably the time before that too, now that I think about it."  
  
"But nothing's there now, so why choose it except for tradition?" Tomo shrugged, and stuck a fork into a chunky slice of watermelon, rising it to their mouth and chowing down. "Still," swallow, mouth cleared. "I guess it makes things easier for a distractionable trade off. Probably."  
  
"People'll still wonder how Garuza got Jouki back, at any rate," Harley frowned. "So maybe it'd be best if he chose somewhere public."  
  
"Earth C's been hit a lot lately, shouldn't they give it a break?" Nepeta countered.  
  
"What if we choose somewhere else?" Atsuya asked. "Alternia Galaxy, but somewhere relatively isolated."  
  
"Like what?" Tomo frowned, jabbing fork into another chunk of watermelon. A moment later, chomp.  
  
Atsuya eyed Tomo's plate full of watermelon chunks for a moment, then asked, "What planet were the Watermelons from again?"  
  


* * *

  
"Hrmf. Stupid Lothor putting plans on hold-" Kurantula paced about the old SGC Conference room.  
  
"That Damned Enter escaping like that-" Garuza paced as well.  
  
"WE OUGHTA DO SOMETHING!" The two whirled towards the other.  
  
"But what?" Kurantula asked. "We're told to not do anything while plans are reformulated!"  
  
"Meanwhile Jouki is out there in the Kiramager's hands!" Garuza's fists clenched and he snarled. "Damned teenagers!"  
  
"If we just knew where the Rangers were keeping him...!" Kurantula began.  
  
"Unfortunately, we would never be so lucky!" Garuza started. "We should prepare a plan to draw them out first."  
  
"Yes, maybe we should do that," Kurantula began. "I think it'd-"  
  
And then a set of abandoned Mofang Equipment, just hovering in the corner of the room, started to beep and chime.  
  
Garuza gazed at it. "What now?"  
  
"Hrmmm... Could be nothing if I calibrated the Alarms wrong," Kurantula wandered over and opened a terminal on one of the devices- and he shouted- "OH! OH!!! I didn't! I set it up right! You'll never guess how our Luck turned out!"  
  
"What's that?" Garuza asked.  
  
"When I picked up this equipment from my old house, I set it up to relay to me if any Kiramei Stones got detected coming through the stargate," Kurantula grinned, and then swung a holographic panel over towards him. "Look who just went to our old home?"  
  
Garuza grasped at the edges of the floating screen. "Impossible!"  
  


* * *

"One of the Diaspora'd Mofang Settlements, huh?" Heliko asked, hovering around Nepeta's shoulder. "Who woulda thought they had a thriving Watermelon industry?"  
  
"Smack dab on a planet that's home to a lot of rich Naquadah deposits, too," Harley observed, carrying Jouki's former body in hand as the four Kiramagers hiked along. "A good place as any to make a purification ritual happen."  
  
The plan Atsuya had come up with was simple, find a simple, sparsely populated world, and head out into the wilderness away from the Stargate. Pretend to set up some kind of Ritual to the inert Jouki Stone, and wait for Garuza and Kurantula to take the bait.  
  
It was really all going to be a bunch of smoke and mirrors, but that was the point of it.  
  
They'd keep at it for as long as it took to get the badguy's attention. Make enough noise to make it seem they were doing something to Jouki's stone, and then make the fight look good when they eventually let Garuza take the thing back.  
  
"I think we're far enough away from the village now," Atsuya said as they entered a clearing.  
  
"Alrighty then! That's my cue!" Heliko darted away from Nepeta, landed a distance away from them, grew to full size, and transformed- "MASHIN!"   
  
As the Kiramagers climbed into Heliko, a Bechat observed them quietly. Then, as the Pink Kiramei Stone took to the air and flew off into the distance, the Bechat turned to leave to report.  
  


* * *

  
"A Purification Ritual?" Garuza scoffed. "Mabushiina must have given them some false hope. Even so, I'll take Jouki back before they can do anything."

"I've got just the Jamenju to cause some trouble, too!" Kurantula grinned. "All the Energy's ready to go for it to be summoned! Just give me the word..."  
  


* * *

  
"Woah," Tomo pointed at something in Heliko's range of vision. "Whats that?"  
  
"Oooh!" Nepeta tapped at the controls, "Enhancing visual..."  
  
Inside on the view screen, a close up of that distant something came into view. An old, abandoned looking City, nestled in the mountains, partially overgrown and on verge of collapse.  
  
"Looks like an old Alternian settlement," Atsuya said, looking at it for a few moments. "Building styles look about a thousand, maybe two thousand years old? Probably was abandoned more recently than that, though."  
  
"Since when were you the Alternian history expert?" Tomo asked, glancing at him.  
  
"Since we found out time travel might be a thing we have to do," Atsuya answered. "I've been researching on things just in case."  
  
"Fair enough," Tomo said, eyeing the abandoned settlement. "Why's it so far away from the Stargate, though?"  
  
"I think the Gate on this world was relocated," Nepeta said then. "I never knew where, but Momma'Kurii was talking about it a while back. If I'm remembering it right, apparently they had to dig the Gate out of a collapsed building and moved it to more fertile ground for the settlement."  
  
"Guess that explains it," Tomo said. "Let's go there. If it comes to a fight atleast we'll be destroying ruins."  
  
"Just what I was thinking," Atsuya agreed. "Let's go."  
  
And thus, Heliko turned towards the old ruins.  
  


* * *

  
"The old Ruins, eh?" Garuza asked, watching Heliko turn in the air towards that place. "Good, I couldn't have asked for a better arena."  
  
He stomped off through the forest, heading that way. Behind him, Kurantula huffed, unused to the Hiking.  
  
"I already miss Jouki, and I never even rode in him!" The Mofang grumbled.  
  


* * *

  
"I'm fine, Doctor Keller," Mabushiina protested as the human woman ran an Ancient Scanner over her.  
  
"Not according to some of these energy scans, you're not," Keller answered, frowning. "Something's off with your internal ballance, and near enough to your heart as it is, that's concerning."  
  
"But I feel fine," Mabushiina protested once more.  
  
"You took an energy blast to the back and were out cold for several hours," Keller said. "That you 'feel fine' makes me more suspicious if you're not making it up."  
  
Mabushiina would have pouted if her face were capable of the movements, as it was she just made a disgruntled sound.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"I'm going to insist you take the next week off from fighting, Harry," Doctor Fraiser said as she wrote up the discharge papers. "We don't know enough about your new physical status to know if your apparent recovery is a good thing or not."  
  
"Alright," Harry nodded.  
  
"And Equius? Make sure he gets home in one piece," Fraiser added.   
  
"I will," Equius nodded.  
  
And so, Harry and Equius headed out for Earth C once more.  
  
"Where are the others?" Harry asked. "I would've guessed they'd be here waiting for me to get discharged. Well. Sally would have, at any rate."  
  
"They went to dispose of Jouki's body somewhere, and will call me if they need help," Equius said. "As for your sister, she said she was going to play damage control with your mothers."  
  
Harry winced. "Yeah, that checks out."  
  
It didn't take long for them to reach the Book Room, link to Diaspora, then Gate to the Beltus to get beamed down to Earth C.  
  


* * *

  
Enter observed the Kiramagers through two sets of observation screens. "A giant ritual... and two lone Kiramagers on their lonesome? One of which is Blue?" he smirked. "Maybe I can get one of my plans back on track... it may be different and I may have to rush it, but if the end goal is the same...?"  
  
He looked to the Perfume Monstone, and ordered it to go with a wave of his hand.  
  


* * *

  
"Welcome back, Bro," Sally hugged her brother as she met him and Equius outside the Harley-Lalonde household. "You doin' alright?"  
  
"Doctors orders is to stay away from fighting for a week," Harry answered. "So, I'll be trying to-"  
  
He couldn't finish the sentence.  
  
There was a loud teleporting rumble noise from just nearby, and all three Rangers turned to look in that direction.  
  
"Stoneee..." The Monstone shaped like the Purfume Droid rumbled. "Monstoneeee!"  
  
"Uguts! Uguts!" A horde of slightly-off Venjix Grinders were also with it, chanting, raising and lowering their arms mechanically.  
  
"...Doctor Fraiser should have known better than to tempt fate," Equius grumbled.  
  
"Something tells me we're not going to get away with letting me sit this one out," Harry sighed.   
  
"You guys ready?" Sally asked, readying her Morpher.  
  
"Ready!" The Kiramagers tapped their morphers. __"KIRAMEI GO!/SHINE!"__  
  
 _ **"OVERDRIVE ACCELERATE!"**_  
  
 _ **"KIRAMEI CHANGE!"**_  
  
Three flashes of light, and a pair of "OH SHINE!" and "LET'S SPARKLE!" and the three rangers ran into battle against the Monstone and the self-named Uguts.  
  
Needless to say, not a half minute into the fighting later, one Jade Harley-Lalonde burst out of her house a moment later, snarling. "IT IS TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING FOR THIS!"  
  
Unfortunately, the monstone and the robots didn't listen to the Witch of Space's demands and politely bowed out. Oh, no, a selection of them turned towards her and started to rampage forwards--  
  
But the Witch of Space was the Witch of Space, and a Jade Harley is a Jade Harley is a Jade Harley- fancy teleportation powers included.  
  
She snapped her fingers and the entire fight vanished with a flash of green and a ZAP, taking the Kiramagers and Sally with them.  
  
"...Ah, crap." She realized her mistake a moment later.  
  


* * *

  
Garuza gazed out into the ruins of the city as the Kiramei Stones enlarged but didn't transform into Mashin, resting in a pentagram sort of pattern. The red one was at the northern point, Yellow to its left, green to its right, down next to Yellow on the left side was the pink one...  
  
Finishing off the fifth spot was that new Kiramei Stone, the purplish blue one, Duston. Why not The normal blue stone? Probably something to do with the suction powers its Mashin Weapon form had demonstrated. The other three child Kiramei Stones were floating around along with the two halves of Mashin Express, seemingly ready to set up a second pentagram. All of them seemed unaware of their surroundings, humming loudly as if trying to resonate with eachother.  
  
And there in the center, at a pitifully small size, was a purple-black gemstone. Jouki had been reset that far already, hm? They probably needed the Naquadah for a bigger reaction. There was no way they hadn't tried this already, and Garuza wasn't going to let them get away with doing it further.  
  
The Kiramagers were already suited up, and preparing to do who knows what.  
  
Garuza wasn't going to have it.  
  
"Kurantula," he ordered, "draw the Kiramagers away. I'll take Jouki's stone while everyone's distracted."  
  
"Fine fine," Kurantula said. "Bechats! Leeets go!!!"  
  
And then he charged into the arena, Bechats at his side.  
  
"KIRAMAGERS!" Kurantula shouted, leaping onto an old stone bench. "Prepare to--!"  
  
He lost his balance and fell flat on his back as the stone bench couldn't support his weight and toppled backwards, breaking in half in the process.  
  
"...What a weird Jamenshi," Harley observed.   
  
"Be careful, everyone," Atsuya warned as the Bechats hesitated in swarming them to guard Kurantula as he picked himself up, "Garuza's likely here somewhere."  
  
"WRONG!" Kurantula lied. "Just me!"  
  
"As if Garuza'd send just a Jamenshi after the last screw up," Tomo shook their head. "I don't buy it, Red-Green Jamen."  
  
"I'm Not a Jamenshi!" Kurantula shouted. "I am General Kurantula- the Sorcerer- of the Soon to be Gilgameshian Empire!"  
  
"A General?" Nepeta asked, startled. "Seriously!?"  
  
"That's right! After Enter gave us the slip yesterday we're on a tight leash so I gotta prove my worth and get Garuza's Precious Jouki back!" Kurantula stuck his tongue out. "SO don't call me a Jamenshi!! Got it!?"  
  
"Then... this is the guy who's making all the Bechat masks?" Harley pointed at him. "Look! He's got a necklace full of them!"  
  
Kurantula gasped, shocked, and played the hurt as he tried not to watch Garuza's hiding place for movement.  
  
"How dare you!" Kurantula put his hands to his mask collection epaulettes. "These aren't just any Bechat Masks! They're Insurance Policies!"  
  
"So You're the guy who summons monsters then?" Atsuya asked, tone growing serious as he drew his sword and blaster.  
  
"Damn straight I am!" Kurantula shouted, readying his gauge bearing staff. "And if you're not careful I'll drop one straight onto your faces right now! So hand over Jouki or ELSE!"  
  
"How's about we beat you up instead?" Harley asked, drawing her sword.   
  
"And maybe we'll just break that fancy staff of yours too!" Nepeta answered, drawing her blaster.  
  
And then Tomo seemed to do a double take. "Guys! I think I see--" Crap- did they see Garuza??  
  
Maybe, maybe not- because either way Kurantula did the stupidest thing in his life.  
  
He grabbed an insurance mask off his left and hurled it right at the yellow kiramager's helmeted face. **_"YOU SEE NOTHING!!!"_**  
  
Tomo staggered backwards from the mask bonk to the face- shook their head out, and then snarled, drawing out their blaster- "SCREW YOU, JERK!"  
  
The Bechats got the right idea and started swarming then- some taking the first volley of blasts from Kiramei Yellow as they shot at him.   
  
Kurantula ran for the place he'd set up his own trap, and the fight chased after him. "EEEP! SO SCARY!" he shouted, and it wasn't acting. He was pretty dang scared of getting shot. Unlike most of these monsters, Kurantula did not have an Insurance Policy against the Kiramagers.  
  
Not today, at any rate.  
  
Garuza watched them go- and then watched as the Weapon mashin and Express' two parts roared off after them, no doubt intending to help the fight somehow.   
  
Good, Garuza chuckled. Now he had his chance to move in.  
  
He sneaked forwards, edging past the Kiramei Stones, who kept on humming away, loudly at that.  
  
He just had to...  
  
Sort of reach out and...  
  
His fingers brushed against a force field surrounding Jouki's stone.  
  
"Damn it!" Garuza shouted, and that was that.  
  
"GARUZA!" Four voices shouted, and then a fifth cried "MASHIN!"  
  
And then Garuza heard the dreaded sound of a vacuum cleaner roaring.

* * *

Harry, Equius, and Sally had barely noticed the teleport, save that their surroundings had changed towards the industrial sector instead of residential.  
  
As Sally drew the Uguts' attention, Harry and Equius dueled with the Perfume Sprayer Monstone.  
  
"MASHIN!" Jetta cried out- transforming into a sword for Equius to hold. "Let's go, Aniki!"  
  
"Yeah, let's go," Equius agreed with a nod, taking a ready stance, standing in front of Harry. _ _ **"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"**_ _   
  
Jetta began to glow brightly, drawing the Monstone's attention... ignoring exactly as _ _ **"SHINY BREAKER!"**_ _ Harry readied his weapon, shifted to claw-blaster mode, and tapped the button twice. _ **_"ONE BEAM JOB! Glad To Do It! (Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!)"_**_  
  
Harry took aim even as Equius charged forwards.   
  
_**_"(Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!)"_** _A glowing depiction of the road emblem sash on Kiramei Silver's suit appeared on the ground leading the way between Harry and the Monstone- providing a perfect runway for the incoming projectile attack.  
  
"KIRAMEI BLUE DYNAMIC!" Equius swung a massive beam of light at the Monstone Droid- smashing into it, and shattering its Robotic disguise- carving a gash into its armor that startled Equius and Jetta for how little damage it did.  
  
"Uhoh!" Jetta yelped.  
  
 _ **_"(Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!)"_**_

  
 _ **"SHINING...!"**_  
  
Equius dodged to the side.  
  
 _ **"BEAM ATTACK!"**_ Harry called out and he pulled the trigger.  
  
The Silver Drill rushed down the runway- only for the road to suddenly buckle upwards to form a ramp, launching the drill upwards and then downwards at an angle- where it pierced through the Monstone's exposed chest,  
  
Explosions went off, and Equius readied himself incase the finisher attack wasn't enough to finish off the Monstone.  
  
 _ **_"ONE JOB DONE!"_** _ Shiny Breaker called, and Harry turned his back to the explosion as secondary and tertiary explosions went off. _**_"SPLENDID!"_**_  
  
"Now that's a-!" Harry started.  
  
"BRO, LOOK OUT!" Sally shouted- seeing something moving inside the explosion from her perspective on the blast before Equius did and could react to it.  
  
At shocking speeds that we the audience could only comprehend due to the narrative slowing down our perception of it, the Monstone leaped out of the flames- transformed into a sleek, black, Atronach form seemingly out of desperation before it tackled Harry from behind and exploded with a burst of Jamental colored flames.  
  


* * *

  
"Interesting Choice. Not the Ranger I would have seen it taking, but interesting never the less," Enter chuckled, closed his laptop screen, then grabbed a Green Kiramei Stone from the table and shoved it onto his bag along side a few other possibly Kiramei Stone looking shapes, and handed the whole thing to an Uguts. "Bury these randomly around the planet before they wake up."  
  
"Uguts!" The not-quite Venjix Grinder nodded, before scurrying off.

* * *

"MASHIIIIIIN!"  
  
Kurantula risked looking backwards, and he saw five Kiramei Stones transforming to join the four Kiramagers chasing after him.  
  
"LIFTING TOMO-SAN!" Lifton shouted- springing his fork board into the air with enough force to send Tomo into the air, where they fired off with their Kiramei Shot-- Kurantula dodged the blasts thanks to his last second ditch effort of throwing a Bechat infront of him like a shield.  
  
Tomo and the Teal Stone then went to town on some other unfortunately attention grabbing Bechats- trying to thin the herd.  
  
"ROLLAND RAISING!" Atsuya swung Rolland forwards through the Bechats- clearing a path through the herd. For some inexplicable reason, the Hammer form weapon Mashin was glowing bright red, Kurantula noticed- Wait. No. That was thinning the herd too! They were really serious about taking out the Bechats weren't they?  
  
Kurantula swore and took aim at Harley, who was doing something with Express, with his staff. "STOP THAT!" He fired off.  
  
 _ **_"KIRAMEI SHIELD!"_**_ And then suddenly Nepeta swung in with Mashin Carry's shield form in arm- blocking the attack and deflecting it away.  
  
Kurantula fired several more energy blasts at her.  
  
"NOPE!" Nepeta shouted.  
  
"DENIED!" Carry countered.  
  
"NOT HAPPENING!" Both shouted at the same time- rushing forwards like an advancing shield wall.  
  
Kurantula roared- firing more and more- then he had to dodge to the side becaus Tomo started taking pot shots at him again.  
  
Why was he out here again risking his life for?  
  
"EXPRESS CANNON, READY!" And then Harley and Express shouted- and Kurantula looked...  
  
The Green Kiramager was shouldering Mashin Express like some kind of shoulder cannon- with the front end split apart into a V Cresh shape and gathering energy between the prongs like it was some kind of energy mass relay.  
  
"BURN BLASTER!!!" Harley shouted.  
  
"Ah shit," Kurantula swore, and then he threw his Hail Mary of a card into the incoming energy blast.  
  


* * *

  
Harry groaned as Equius pulled burning crystal debirs off of him. "What hit me?"  
  
"The Monstone," Equius answered.  
  
"What about the cannon fodder?" Harry asked as Sally decided he was free enough and pulled him to his feet.  
  
"They fled as soon as that monster exploded," Sally answered. "No idea why."  
  
Equius' morpher chimed then- and he struck its wheel. "This is Equius."  
  
 _"Equius! We need your help!"_ Fiya shouted. _"It's Garuza!"_  
  


* * *

  
TIme stood at a still within a suddenly enclosed black box made up of forcefield energy.  
  
Or, that was the impression the way that the energy beam had frozen in place- as had everyone else caught within it as if someone had hit the pause button.  
  
"Oh, great," Tomo snarked, "so YOU'RE the one who came up with the reset button Jamenshi, weren't you?" They were stuck frozen in pose- aiming at Kurantula's head.  
  
"I'll admit, this adaptation of that time loop ability probably wasn't the greatest idea," Kurantula said, unable to really move himself outside of his mouth. He was caught in the really awkward pose of throwing whatever it was that caused this into the front of the energy beam that had caused time to just sort of... Stop.   
  
"I'm really kind of ticked off that you froze us all like this!" Harley complained- frozen in a backwards stumble from Express' Canon fire recoil. "What'd you even throw at me anyways!?"  
  
"Just some Mofang Time Dilation tech that I put inside a magic box," Kurantula answered.   
  
"Mofang Tech?" Nepeta asked, stuck frozen in her landing position after dodging away from Harley's fired blast. "Oh... wait, now I see it. You're a Mofang, aren't you?"  
  
Kurantula swallowed, and tried flexing his outstretched fingers. They twitched. Barely. Good, the effect wasn't completely freezing him solid. "Uh. Well. Okay. Cat's out of the bag, I guess. You got me!" This shouldn't take long, right?  
  
"Well why are you working for Gilgamesh then?" Nepeta asked.  
  
"Oh, well, you know how it is. Your local village hermit starts hanging out with the local village idiot, and then some fancy princess shows up and starts looking for people who survived the extinction of her planet," Kurantula answered. "Then there was the whole talk about a standing job appointment and, well, honestly things just sort of spiraled from there!"  
  
...Or maybe not very fast at all, given that the energy blast was starting to explode against the thrown time dilation bomb. This could take a while.  
  
"Sooo..." Atsuya started, frozen mid swing about to hit a Bechat. "Got any idea how long this will last for?"  
  
"Truthfully, not a clue!" Kurantula said. "I, uh... never tested this thing at all. Let alone exploding headlong into an energy cannon shot."  
  
"Oh, so we're just experimenting with all sorts of unplanned plans today, aren't we?" Express asked.  
  
"LAAAAAAAME!" Lifton yelled, frozen in position flipping some Bechats into the air.  
  
"You are bad at planning and should feel bad!!" Rolland complained.  
  
"Oh who cares what you kiddy Mashin think!?" Kurantula stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry.  
  
"WAAA!!! WHY YOU---!!!" Lifton and Rolland cried- offended.  
  
"Momma! Pappa! He's mean!" Carry stated the obvious, then asked, "Can I please run him over for insulting my little brothers!?"  
  
"Yes, of course, Sweetie!" Nepeta answered.  
  
"Just make sure to wait for Express's energy blast to finish first!" Atsuya said. "Safety first!"  
  
Kurantula winced at the not so implied threats of violence against his being. "Eeesh, you guys are violent kids, aren't you?"  
  
"You're one to talk, freezing us in time like this!" Tomo said.  
  
 ** _"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"_** Kurantula countered, loudly.  
  
"You're a bad person and you should feel bad!!" Rolland cried out in repeat, sounding more upset this time than he had before.   
  
"QUIT MEMEING AT ME!" Kurantula protested that, frustrated.   
  
The explosion progressed by a simple fraction of a second- slowly eating into the outer casing of the strange bit of Mofang Tech.  
  


* * *

  
Mashin Fiya glared on at the pesky Crystalian man who was stubbornly holding on from Duston's suction attack by way of having jammed his sword into the ground and was reinforcing his limbs with Jamental to keep from getting yanked off into nothing.  
  
"You should just give up!" Heliko shouted- whriling her rotor blades at him and Duston, adding to the directional force. "Go get crushed like the big bad meany you are!!!"  
  
Unfortunately, the rest on them really couldn't do anything to get involved from here. Oh, sure, Shovellow, FIya, and Mahha could try to form Land Mage at any scale to try squashing Garuza like a bug, but the moment they left their positions in the magic circle, the forcefield around Jouki's stone was going to lower...  
  
And honestly, they'd been talking since this plan was first formed...  
  
Why make it easy for Garuza to even HAVE a chance to even take Jouki back anyways? Sure, they were operating under the assumption that he was PROBABLY involved in a time loop? But really. Who cared about that shit! If they could stop Garuza here and now it'd save them all a whole load of trouble later, really!!  
  
Still. The plan was the plan, and none olf them wanted to risk Jamental corruption by fighting Garuza directly.   
  
Jetta flew in over head then- swooshing to a land and then shrinking down to sword form inside Equius' grip.  
  
"Ah... wow. You weren't kidding about the whole Garuza situation," Jetta said, observing.  
  
"This... is something different," Equius said, watching tiredly.   
  
"Oh, Kiramei Blue. Come to glare at me too?" Garuza asked, glancing at the Kiramager from his current stuck point holding on for dear life.  
  
"No," Equius said, readying Jetta into a sword stance. "I've come to cut you down."  
  
 _ **_"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"_** _A beam of energy shot into the air from Jetta's blade edges.  
  
"Oh screw this!" Garuza risked it. He let go of his sword and flung his hands towards Jouki's stone- channeling raw, pure JAMENTAL INFUSED KIRAMENTAL at his longstanding partner. Why he hadn't tried this sooner he didn't know- maybe it was the loud droning noise of the vacuum suction keeping him from thinking?  
  
Either way, Garuza flew out of Kiramei Blue's following DYNAMIC attack that should have hit him otherwise. And then forceshield or not, JOUKI returned to being HIS.  
The sudden roar of the Train Whistle as a famiiliar set of jaws closed around him was all Garuza needed to know as he finally got his way.  
  
Garuza snarled as he sat down inside Jouki's cockpit. Something those Kiramagers had done had undone ALL of his careful imaginations and setting adjustments. It was looking like he'd have to start re-corrupting Jouki all over again.  
  
Still, atleast the Mashin was utterly silent and not fighting back against him at all now, so he supposed he should thank the Kiramagers for that......  
  
Or, that's what Garuza would say if he were the genuine thanking type. Which he really wasn't.   
  
What a jerk.

* * *

Harry and Sally watched from afar as Jouki suddenly burst free of his forceshield and grew to full size- snagging Garuza in the train-dino's maw and nearly ramming poor Duston over.  
  
Duston shrunk out of the way and Jouki drove off into the distance, not even teleporting away to safety. Nope. Instead, Jouki just kept on running off in the distance towards that Village and the Stargate...  
  
"Well... that could have gone better, and it could have gone worse," Mahha said as Harry and Sally approached them.   
  
"Indeed, it could have," Equius sighed. Then, he looked around. "Where are the others?"  
  


* * *

  
"So then! THEN! Garuza gets ticked off because the Jamenshi fell asleep! It was his own fault for getting distracted by nothing, honestly!" Kurantula was ranting-explaining to a hybrid of dis/interest among the Kiramagers. "But then he goes on about some glowing ghost titant of light or something and, MAN! I just don't get it! I think that Jamental power's going to his head and making him crazy, if you ask me!!"  
  
"We didn't," Tomo said, genuinely interested. "But please do tell us more!"  
  
"Right! So! After that-!"  
  


* * *

  
Under the light of the starting to set sun, the three Rangers, demorphed, gazed at the black cubical structure that was around the area the fighting had last been heard.  
  
"So... This is a bad thing, right?" Sally asked.  
  
"Definitely wasn't in the plan," Equius said, observing it.   
  
"Aniki!" Jetta shouted from over head- "It's closed ontop too!"  
  
"What about underground?" Harry asked, and then struck his morpher wheel for a search. _"DISCOVERY!"_ A hologram projected, showing. "The barrier only goes twenty meeters underground."  
  
"So if we can dig a hole with Shiny Breaker..." Sally trailed off. "No that'll take too long." She pulled out her Morpher, and flipped it open. "Just leave this to me, Bro. I'll use my Driller Zord to break in underground!"  
  
"Wait," Harry started. "There's no telling if we'd hit anyone else doing that!"  
  
"We don't even know what kind of anomally it even is that could-" Equius started when the forcefield suddenly ripped apart as if it was exploded, and they watched as Kurantula went flying from an explosion he couldn't quite dodge in time.  
  
He landed face down, and the other rangers quickly morphed to regroup.  
  
"Everyone! Are you alright?" Equius asked.  
  
"Just a time stop field," Tomo said, pulling Harley to her feet. "We managed fine."  
  
"GAAAH!" Kurantula got to his feet. _"FINE! SCREW IT!"_ He threw his staff into the air. _**"RING TOSS HILDON!"**_  
  
Dark energy shot into the sky, opening a portal that dropped a Hildon type Jamenju into the city just near by.

"I'M GOING HOME!" And then Kurantula fell through a portal beneath his feet in the same breath.  
  
As the Kiramagers turned from him towards the Jamenju--  
  
["MASHIIIN!" ](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei14ringtoss2.png)The Core Five Kiramei Stones smashed into the Jamenju, circling around and transforming.  
  
"It's our turn to burn some frustration!" Fiya shouted.  
  
Morphers were tapped and spun. **__"MASHIN GATTAI!"__**  
  
And Ten voices cried out: "MASHIN GATTAI!"   
  
Five Mashin came together...  
  
"COMPLETE! KIRAMAGEIN!"  
  
And _**_"KIRA-MAGE-IN!"_**_ stood ready to fight.  
  
The Jamenju threw its head forwards, launching a ring at the Mecha. It caught on a building behind them instead, and crushed it into oblivion.  
  
Ring Toss Hildon threw more rings at Kiramagein- they slashed through two and then got caught by the third- [it immediately started constricting, trying to crush them](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei14ringtoss3.png).

The Kiramagers struggled to break free, applying force to their wheels. "Can't... move...!" Atsuya grunted out.  
  
"My SPINE!" Shovellow cried out. "YOWCH!!"  
  
"I'm actually fine," Mahha said, "but we're in big trouble! Jetta can you break free?"  
  
"I can!" Jetta detached, returned to Jet mode, and slashed through the binding ring, "WITH A WOOOOOSH!"  
  
"YAH!" Fiya yelled as the ring exploded. "We're free!"  
  
"Thank you, Jetta!" Heliko cheered.  
  
The Jamenju threw more rings at them.  
  
"It's comming again!" Harley shouted.  
  
 ** __"MASHIN DRIJAN!"__**

And then the orange mecha burst forth from the ground with a brief teleportation chime-[ catching the ring on the movable drill arm,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei14ringtoss4.png) and then launching it back at the Jamenju.  
  
[Ring Toss Hildon was trapped](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei14ringtoss5.png).

* * *

Inside the cockpit, Overdrive Red sat instead of Kiramei Silver- though he stood behind his sister as she gripped at the controls.  
  
"This is a horrible control device, Bro," Sally said of using Shiny Breaker as the controller. "A wheel'd be so much more intuitive!"  
  
"Pilot your own zord, then," Harry said quietly.  
  


* * *

  
"Let's Go, DUSTON!" Shovellow called out.  
  
"MASHIIIIIN!" Duston transformed into the robot sized vacuum cleaner, and combined.  
  
"Kiramagein Duston!" The Rangers called out.  
  
"Let's do it, Dus!" Duston declared, rolling forwards towards the Jamenju.  
  
"Duston Buster!" The Kiramagers called out- aiming Duston at the Jamenju...  
  
"SUCK ON THIS, DUS!" Duston shouted.  
  
...And pulling it forwards towards them with the sheer force of suction.  
  
 ** _"KIRAMEI DYNAMIC!!"_** And then they slashed through the Jamenju as they suddenly cut off Duston, letting the Jamenju sail on past them through the sword strike- causing it to begin sparking and beginning to explode as it sailed past them.

And Then, it went boom.  
  
"Nicely done!" Sally clapped her hands.  
  
"We did it!" The Kiramagers cheered.

And as Kiramagein Duston and Mashin Drijan stood there in the light of the setting sun, the standard _ **_"CHECKMAGE!"_** _called out into the air.

* * *

Kurantula stomped into the SGC Zord Bay where Garuza was tending to the returned Jouki.  
  
"Well! I nearly died, but we got your Jouki back!" Kurantula grumbled. "How's the damage? Was it worth it??"  
  
"I'd say yes," Garuza chuckled, turning to face Kurantula. "I've yet to full examine everything, but, I think I finally understand what the Kiramagers did."  
  
"And what's that?" Kurantula asked.  
  
"Rid me of one of the limiters keeping me from using Jouki to its fullest potential," Garuza said with loud, proud intent. "Jouki's very mind itself!"  
  
"What?" Kurantula asked. "I don't get it?"  
  
"Whatever they did, all I have now is a pure, mindless Machine made of Kiramei Stone," Garuza said, throwing his hands into the air, Jamental radiating off of him. "That makes it easier for me to control... but conversely it may also make it easier for them to Hijack in the future. I think they were lying about that purification ritual." He chuckled, amused chimes ringing into the air. "No, I think they screwed up the last one and wound up thinking they just drove Jouki's mind into a suppressed state! They'll never know that they erased it entirely. Not until I design to tell them."  
  
"Well good for you, I guess," Kurantula huffed. "Don't make me go out there again unless it's an emergency! I hate fighting..." And then he stormed off.

* * *

"How's Jouki doing?" Heliko asked, hovering in the Beltus' Zord Bay as she and Esprez examined the large aqua stone.  
  
"It looks like his personality matrix is settling into the new stone just fine," Esprez sighed in relief, twisting to face Heliko. "I don't know how long it will be before he wakes up... but he could use the rest."  
  
"He's been through a lot, that's for sure!" Heliko nodded, gleaming slightly. "Don't you worry, Jouki! We'll keep you safe!"

* * *

[ _ **KIRAFUL! MIRACLE! KIRAMAGER!!!**_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzcI8KPeZd0)  
  
"Mooom!" Harry protested as Jade forced him to sit down at the table, where several plates piled high with steaming steak slabs resided. "That's way too many steaks for one man to eat alone!"  
  
"You've been through how many explosions and battles and got told to be on bed rest for a week!" His mother's electric jade green eyes bore into him. "You're eating as much as you can without getting sick!!"  
  
"Sally! Help!" Harry reached out.  
  
"Sorry, I'm taking Drijan for a joyride!" Sally grinned, grabbing at his Morpher and Shiny Breaker. "See ya later!"  
  
 _ **"WHAT HAPPENED TO HATING THE CONTROLS!?"** _Harry asked, but he'd receive no answer.  
  


* * *

  
**_NEXT KIRAMAGER!_ **   
  
_"Turn into fluffy goodness, my pretties!"_   
  
_"A Marshmallow Jamen!?" Harley asked._   
  
**__"DISCOVERY!"__ **   
  
_"It's a new friend!" Nepeta exclaimed._   
  
_"READY, KIRAMAGEIN MAZELLAN!"_   
  
_NEXT EPISODE: 15: "Ma, Gelling powder sure is overpriced these days!" (Make some S'mores instead.)_   
  
_"Let's Sparkle Next time, DUS!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's like a game of Red Light/Green Light, except, y'know. Nobody's calling out 'red light! green light!' yknow?  
> That's... really the closest this episode gets to being a plot lift of the episode I'm adapting here.  
> \---  
> Once again, I gotta go replace the ending themesong links. BLAH.
> 
> Atleast this time there's cute artwork with the video. Check it out for that much, atleast. I'll probably drop doing the links in the next act for the ending theme. 
> 
> ...Speaking of Next Act, I've barely gotten any writing on it done. IRL's done a number on me the last few weeks, so when I finish this act I'll probably take a short upload break to work on writing more. 
> 
> The same reason of IRL doing a number in is why this chapter is a bit later than the usual upload time. I may also be taking a break sooner than end of act for those reasons alone. We'll see how things go. 
> 
> ...Basically, if you don't get any chapters this next weekend, just assume I've gone on break for a couple of weeks. Or I may announce it with the next chapter, idk.
> 
> Speaking of. Next chapter is: INTERMISSION: The Fall


	20. INTERMISSION: The Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: Will be going on a short hiatus for the next week or so after this chapter is posted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> The Fall of D'ni.  
> Aftermath of Act of Mass Terrorism and Murder.  
> Poisonous Gas.  
> Character Death.  
> Phoenix mythology.

As explosions rocked the Cavern of D'ni, and a putrid, poisonous gas spread through the air, a young woman of D'ni descent who wore a gasmask over her face and the uniform jacket of Overdrive Pink over her chest scurried through the hallways and passageways, trying her best to avoid being taken by the plague that was killing this planet's currently longest running civilization.  
  
Cradled within her arms was a chunk of Blue Diamond- a Kiramei Stone that shouldn't have been present on this world, let alone in this place at this time.   
  
But then again, neither should the girl, nor the armored knight chasing after her at a slow and steady gait.  
  
"Hellen," The Knight taunted as he stepped over corpses left behind in the wake of the deadly gas. "Just surrender now. We both know you cannot run forever. Not with as much of the gas as you've inhaled."  
  
The girl, Overdrive Pink, knew he was right. She'd gotten her mask on too late. Realized what was going on too late. She was wheezing, and growing slower. She wasn't going to make it. But she'd reached a part of the Cavern that wasn't so bad off yet. The fan's hadn't blown the gas into this part of the city yet.  
  
She saw a girl in a gas mask- her Mother who'd seen what was happening and prepared to save her girl, had gotten her only this far, only to die yards away from a linking book library.  
  
Hellen made her choice.   
  
She went to the girl, handed her the Blue Diamond, and told her to take it and run. A bad man was coming to kill them.  
  
She got the girl to go through a safe looking linking book, and then she closed it, and looked to a nearby book that wasn't so safe. A grimey, sticky looking handprint lay on its panel. Death awaited her here. But maybe if she could trick the knight...  
  
He stepped into view of the room, and Hellen pressed her hand to the panel.  
  
 _ **VRRROOMMMSSShshshshs...**_  
  
The knight observed the marred handprint on the panel, and he sighed. "A death world. Very well, Hellen. I will return for that Stone Fragment once the Plague has run its course."  
  
And then he turned and left, leaving the girl, and most of D'ni, for that matter, to their fate.   
  
The gas began making its way into that part of the Cavern not too long after.  
  
And Hellen, who'd chosen a book that had been used by someone infected and dying could only giggle to herself as she felt the deadly gas working to finish her off.   
  
"Ah, man," she sighed to herself. "If only those damned fans hadn't been used against us like that."  
  
A moment later, she heard the CAW of what sounded like a crow, but when she looked up at a tree branch, saw a majestic bird the size of a large turkey, covered in golden, gleaming feathers alight with fire.  
  
One feather detached, pink and glimmering, and descended towards the girl.  
  
She reached a hand up and grasped onto the feather, and suddenly... her pain was gone.  
  
But so too was her body, vanished in a flare of pink flames. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm taking a brief break of posting chapters for the week. I'll see you again with the next chapter not this Monday but likely the Monday after with chapter:
> 
> SGA:06X14: A Study In Time.
> 
> \---
> 
> So. Yeah. The Fall of D'ni. Nasty time, that. Very nasty. For more information check out 'MYST: The Book of D'ni', or check a wiki page, I guess.


	21. SGA:06X14: A Study In Time.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And we're back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Elephant Toothpaste.  
> HLVR:AI reference.  
> Daniel Jackson.  
> Discussion of Ascension/Past Character Death.  
> Nightmares.  
> Divergence into the Meta Commentary.  
> Dirk Strider.  
> References to Homestuck^2 and Epilogues.

**EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 2ND, 2012.**  
  
As far as Fridays went, John Sheppard found that today was almost innocuously innocent in the after shocks of the previous week.  
  
There was almost too much to recap, honestly.  
  
Instead, he chose to focus his attention on the meeting at hand.  
  
"This kind of Time Stop effect shouldn't make any sense," Rodney Mckay was saying, reviewing the data. "How could they think and move their mouths, but not move their bodies?"  
  
"It's Mofang Magi-tech hyrbids," Tyzias Entykk remarked, sipping at her hot chocolate. "Of course it doesn't make sense. God, Rodney, sometimes I think about how absurd time dilation as a concept even is, let alone how crazy it is when applied to a Galaxy at a whole."  
  
"Are you still going on about that Solar Destroyer thing again?" Rodney asked.  
  
"Putting the time dilation implausibility aside for a moment," John interjected. "What about everything else?"  
  
"I'm wondering about that too," Keiko Ayano said, leaning forwards in her chair. "What do we know from what Garuza's accomplice told the Kiramagers?"  
  
"We're seriously not trusting anything that guy said as truth, right?" Ronon asked, tossing a pen into the air and catching it.  
  
"Well we didn't have a Mind Reader present, so yeah, we kind of have to assume he was telling the partial truth, at least," Rodney said.   
  
"Considering Garuza went out of his way to blow up a random cave on that planet before leaving, It's pretty likely that the kids accidentally chose the same world Garuza and his odd friend were originally staying on," Tyzias said. "That said, we asked around, and apparently there did used to be a Mofang man named Kurantula who vanished mysteriously from the village around the time Mabushiina last visited it."  
  
Teyla Emmagan chose then to speak, "So there's history there we can learn from, and if the details line up, then we know this 'Kurantula' was actually telling the truth for his perspective on events."  
  
"Well if he's telling the truth, then we almost ghosted Gilgamesh with our last second bombing attempt," Rodney said. "Which means that we're close to figuring out what the hell it is the Weapon does and that we know it's not the amount of power put into the blast or the length of time its active that's the problem, but the wavelengths and frequenceis at work. It's just subtly not quite there."  
  
"We'll keep working on it," Tyzias said. "But what we really need right now is to de-fossilize the weapon."  
  
"And pray it doesn't blow out the minute we try firing it," Rodney added.  
  
Ronon shook his head, then said, "I still think we oughta shoot 'em in the face."  
  
John sighed. It was going to be a long meeting.

* * *

[ **o < \--- STARGATE: ATLANTIS --- >o** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0K2bRdtGlg)

* * *

"I've got another race tomorrow morning," Harley said as she and Tomo worked on homework in the quiet solitude of the presently empty Ranger Classroom. "Last one before the Control team make a decision on if Atlantis uproots again. Wanna come cheer me on?"  
  
"East Pier again?" Tomo asked.  
  
"North-West this time," Harley answered. "Apparently some of the Science Team and one of Lorne's secuirity guards got drunk last night and went and made a huge mess with an Elephant Toothpaste experiment on the East Pier's track field last night."  
  
"Elephant toothpaste?" Tomo stuck their tongue out, disgusted. "Bleeck. I was wondering what that muffled 'boom' last night was, but still. Geeze. Whose bright idea was- No, wait, lemme guess, Gordon Freeman?"   
  
"Actually apparently he's the one who found them passed out in the toothpaste and sent 'em to the holding cell to sober up," Harley frowned. "I Think it was... Doctors Coomer, Bubbsy, and Tommy. And the Security guard was... Benrey, I think."  
  
"Bubbsy and Tommy?" Tomo asked, wary of such names. "Benrey??" There, they just sounded incredulous.  
  
"Don't ask me," Harley shrugged. "Only relaying what I've heard."  
  
"They're probably nicknames," Tomo guessed.  
  
"Probably," Harley agreed. "Sooo... You coming or what?"  
  
"Of course I'm coming!" Tomo smiled. "Wouldn't miss it!"  
  


* * *

  
Watching from afar on a nearby table, Shovellow, Mahha, and Esprez sat, comfortably glistening within a passing sunbeam.  
  
"I'm jealous," Shovellow said suddenly.  
  
"Of what?" Mahha asked.  
  
"I was okay with the Shovellow Squad being weapon mashin, but yesterday Express could turn into one!" Shovellow said. "I want a weapon form now!"  
  
"Don't be so envious," Esprez said. "The recoil was really bad on that one. I was putting out as much power at that small scale as I do at full scale within Ghost Express. We're lucky Harley just tumbled instead of gotten seriously hurt."  
  
"I still want to be used as a weapon at least once!" Shovellow huffed. "I'll bet you Duston could be used as a human scale Weapon Mashin too! _I'm extremely jealous!! I wanna weapon form toooo!!"_  
  
"Quit whining," Mahha said, "or you'll trigger a wish monster and get it twisted about."  
  
"That'll never happen!" Shovellow insisted.  
  
"I sincerely doubt your insistence as reality, Shovellow," Mahha said simply.  
  


* * *

  
"Maaan... this stuff sucks, Dus," Duston lamented as he suctioned up a large batch of orange colored foam from the East Pier.  
  
Even at the Mashins' full size, Duston was still going to be at it for hours suctioning up everything.  
  
"Well, just be glad the exothermic reaction finished hours ago," Gordon Freeman said, sitting inside Duston's seldom used cockpit. "Otherwise it'd be sucky AND hot, and even more unpleasant."  
  
"I am, I am. It's just-" Duston suddenly interrupted. "Hey! Something's written under here, Dus!"  
  
"There's what now?" Gordon stood up, and peered at the screen as Duston brought up an image of what was below what he was cleaning up. "'Don't... Fuck... With... The... Science Team. Oh For Crying Out Loud!" He hung his head in dismay.  
  
"...I'm not cleaning that up, Dus," Duston said simply.

* * *

 **EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 3RD, 2012.**  
  
 **BOM!**  
  
The group of runners took off around the improvised track with the crack of the start signal gun, and as everyone watched and cheered on for the start of the day's first race...  
  
Daniel Jackson couldn't help but ask, "When did Harley take up running again?"  
  
Standing beside him at the water cooler they were at, his daughter, Jade Jackson made a disgruntled sound of being utterly unsurprised by his question, "Do you really not remember her picking it up because of the whole Ascension thing, or did you just forget because you forgot?"  
  
"I honestly don't know anymore," Daniel answered.   
  
"It was a couple years before you died last," Jade answered simply, and slightly bitterly. "So figure that out for yourself."  
  
"You know, I thought I'd been making up for the 'terrible at being a father' thing before I ascended again," Daniel observed after hearing her tone of voice. "What happened?'  
  
"You Stayed Ascended for over a Year," Jade narrowed her eyes. _"That's what happened."_  
  
"It was a precarious situation, I couldn't just leave it be!" Daniel started to counter.  
  
"Oh, no, because god forbid one of the other few remaining Ascended beings in this Galaxy help the Replicators out of their predicament," Jade countered, sipping at her cup of water.  
  
"Well Oladdin had his eyes focused on something with the old Athos settlement," Daniel said, "and it's not like he'd had any real experience helping people Ascend anyways, so he was out."  
  
Jade blinked upon hearing that name, but said nothing, letting her father continue on, listing Ascended beings by name and reasons they couldn't do anything to help until he hit another name she was familiar with. The first race of the day happened to finish around that time, Harley coming in first, unsurprisingly.  
  
"And Esprez was bouncing between Pegasus and Alternia for some reason that she refused to tell me, so yeah, really, I was the only one who had the free time, or the knowledge to help," Daniel concluded.   
  
"Putting a pin on that 'free time' thing for a moment," Jade started, "did you just say 'Oladdin' and 'Esprez'?"

"Uh, yeah?" Daniel nodded. "Why, do you recognize those names?"

"You could say that," Jade frowned.

* * *

"I was Ascended??" Esprez asked, shocked, as she sat on conference room table infront of John, Jade, Keiko, and Daniel.   
  
"Uh, yeah, pretty sure that's you," Daniel nodded. "It's a little hard to tell with the whole, uh, physical form thing getting in the way, but... Yeah. You've got the same voice, atleast."  
  
"I'll be honest," Esprez said, "I don't remember any part of it at all except that it was all exceptionally boring."  
  
Daniel blinked, then looked to Jade, and said, "Doubts erased. That's definitely her."  
  
"So that explains how she came back from the dead, atleast," John leaned forwards onto the table. "But what's this about a guy named Oladdin?"  
  
"He was a really outspoken kind of guy," Daniel explained. "Happy, cheerful, but he had his mind set on something serious. Didn't tell anybody anything about it except that he'd planted seeds of hope on Athos- even that he apparently wasn't open about until the Others got Andromeda'd back in Milky Way, and everyone left here in Pegasus just decided it wasn't worth getting into trouble over because as long as a plan backfired on someone and it didn't hurt everyone else, then it wasn't worth fussing over." Daniel paused. "So he's important, I take it?"  
  
"Try the dead king of Crystalia," John said, "Brother of the guy who's currently running around in a stolen dinosaur train rampaging all over Earth C."  
  
"Ah, right. Understood..." Daniel nodded, then, after a moment's thought, added, "Actually, now that I think about it he said something to me before I headed back down here. Like, right as I was leaving, actually. Almost like he wanted me to hear it but not let anyone else know?"  
  
"He did, did he?" Keiko asked, very interested. "What'd he say?"  
  
"I think it was..." Daniel frowned. "Hold on, no, do you have a piece of paper I can write it down on?"  
  


* * *

  
The Kiramagers were gathered around the dining room table in the Strider apartment, along with their Mashin partners.  
  
"So the King's actually just an 'Ascended Spirit' or whatever?" Fiya asked.  
  
"Ascended Being," Atsuya corrected, gazing at the simple but informative phrase written on the paper before him, "but yes."  
  
"Well, I suppose that's better than you being his secret reincarnation or whatever," Fiya said.   
  
Jetta chimed in, "Garuza's going to be ticked off when he finds out his brother's still alive, sorta."  
  
"That's true," Mahha said. "But at least we know now to some degree how Miss Esprez returned to us."  
  
"It's not that big of a mystery," Esprez remarked.  
  
"You'd be blushing if you could, Esprez!" Heliko giggled.  
  
"I would not!" Esprez countered.  
  
"I'm more concerned about what he told Bio-Dad," Harley said, gazing over Atsuya's shoulder at the paper, and its single statement. "There's no way this wasn't meant as a message for us."  
  
"Agreed," Equius nodded. "Given the timing he probably intended for us to start researching into the legends off of the wording alone."  
  
"'Now to hope those sparkling children will begin searching for the Kanaema Stones,'" Nepeta read the line off the paper. "It's pretty on the nose, isn't it?"  
  
"He could have just come visited us in a dream," Harry said, crossing his arms. "Or something stupid like that. Can't Ascended beings do stuff like that?"  
  
"Maybe he figured Doctor Jackson'd be a better messenger?" Tomo shrugged.  
  
"King Oladdin sure was a weird one, at any rate," Shovellow mused. "I guess that means we really have to start looking into that Myth afterall."  
  
"Given I'm on med leave," Harry said, taking off his Morpher and offering it to the team. "Someone's going to need to start searching for those Wish Stones with this beyond our earlier hunting for Enter's stolen Kiramei Stones."  
  
"We'll start looking on Earth C," Nepeta said, taking the Shiny Kiramei Changer from him and looking at it. "Given we know atleast one of them should be there, if that's what the Wish Monkey was using for its powers."  
  
"Just take it easy, Harry," Atsuya said, turning to smile at their Silver and Orange clad teammate. "You and Mabushiina have been through a lot lately."  
  
Harry grumbled. "Yeah, I know. I feel fine, though."

"Doctor's orders are doctor's orders," Harley said. "Especially Doctor Fraiser's orders. Or, uh, Doctor Kae's. Or Doctor Keller's."  
  
"Or Momma Marsti's," Nepeta chimed in, securing the morpher to her right wrist- it annoyingly chimed out __"Shiny Kiramei Changer!"__ for no damned reason, and Nepeta scowled at it, muttering, "Oh be quiet, you!"  
  


* * *

 **EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 4TH, 2012.**  
  
 _Harry fell. Harry fell and he fell and he fell, and his Morpher was the wrong color and he was trying to activate it, but nothing was happening- he couldn't morph- he wasn't morphing- why wasn't he---_  
  
 _And then a black colored Monstone atronach suddenly burst forth from the similarly falling Jouki and plunged itself deep into his chest._  
  
Harry awoke with a jolt, gasping for breath once more.  
  


* * *

  
One fine Sunday Morning on Earth C, Sally Harley-Lalonde found her brother once more gazing into the mirror in the bathroom, staring into his own eyes as if they held the answer to whatever aled him.  
  
In this case, another nightmare that woke him up early.  
  
"The falling dream again?" Sally asked, startling her brother with a short flinch and a grasp against the marble counter that cracked its surface.  
  
"Ah..." Harry let go of the counter. "Yeah. Same dream. I'm fine."  
  
"You sure about that?" Sally asked, frowning at her brother's reflected face in the mirror. "Because you don't seem fine from where I'm standing."  
  
Harry's eyes narrowed at the reflection of Sally in the mirror, and he said, "I'm fine. It's just a dumb dream. It's nothing to worry about."  
  
Sally sighed. "Fine. If you say so."  
  


* * *

  
"GAAAH!" Sally slammed an empty soda can onto the cafe table. "I hate this!"  
  
The Overdrives were gathered at a simple, not too fancy cafe somewhere in Catherine, on the planet Lopan, and Sally was very annoyed.  
  
"Stupid Harry, making me worry like this!" Sally concluded her venting. _"I hate it! I hate it!!"_ She took several huffing breaths, starting to calm down.  
  
"You good?" Vrissy asked. "'Cause that was like... a solid three minute vent there."  
  
"I think I'm good, yeah," Sally sighed. "Anyone else wanna vent while we're at it?"  
  
"I'm good," Kanaya said simply.  
  
"Same," Vrissy nodded.  
  
"I've got a bone to pick with whoever decided to not only erase my teammates, but replace them with evil clones," June griped. "Mind Control? Sure. But Erasing them entirely? I wanna punch whoever it was who did it in the face!!"

* * *

At that exact moment, three people flinched. One was Lothor, in the drafting stages of another plan to get Enter out into the open...  
  
Another was Earth C's Dirk Strider, who paused in playing the game of chess he was seemingly playing with himself to glance up at the space where another person's eyes would be if they were there, and he said, "Yeah, you kinda fucked up there, didn't you?"  
  
And that third person was actually a non-entity sort of third-party imagined stand-in for Dirk's chess opponent, alternately known as a Narrator, or even perhaps an Ascended being... But no, really it's just a shady excuse for an author insert diversion here, because. Yeah. I really wasn't thinking with that plot point at all. Sorry, June.  
  
"A: Tell it to her face. B: You'd better have one hell of a way of making it up to her," Dirk mused, finishing placing the chess piece down on the board. "Also, can we just, like, pause for a moment and consider how chaotic everything's been here for the last month?"  
  
You're telling me?? Life rarely makes things easy for me, or for the plot points in your universe that I don't have active control over.  
  
"So are you actually going to let June punch you in the face or is that honor going to Lothor for whatever crazy scheme it is he's got cooked up?" Dirk asked, moving another piece on the board opposite him to represent his non-present opponent.  
  
Honestly I'm really debating that. It was my bungling of this whole plot point that caused all of this. Stupid actual-literal wish granting stones. Stupid Kiramei Silver twist.  
  
"You could have cut that first part out," Dirk said.   
  
Could I, really? Because from where I'm sitting these Stones are probably going to be critical to the endgame if not the midgame. We're fast approaching 20 episodes here.   
  
"Out of what, 40? 50?" Dirk asked, making his own counter move on the board.  
  
I literally have no idea.   
  
"Ah, right, that whole circumstances outside of your control thing," Dirk said, eyeing the board. "You know that's partly why the other me from the Epilogues WAS doing what he was doing, right?"  
  
And yet, horrible monstrosity alchemy session.  
  
"Touche," Dirk raised an eyebrow.   
  
Look, it's a fact of life that even the people in charge of narrating your every move get blindsided from time to time.   
  
"Forget it even happened," Dirk said.   
  
Right. Except I can't do that.  
  
"Can't you?" Dirk asked, moving another piece that probably wasn't the right piece to move. "I mean, from your perspective a lot of this hasn't even been posted yet, right? Can't you just... erase this Evil Ranger arc and forget it even happened?"  
  
There's a difference between removing a small scene that isn't flowing with the timeline, or the wills of the characters within the scene, correctly, and outright flat out erasing an entire second half of a two part episode. I don't work like that. I may cull a small scene here, or make a small tweak to the dialogue there, but overall I dictate the events of this timeline as faithfully as I can manage it.   
  
"But you DID make changes to this whole Wish Arc," Dirk pointed out, picking up a bishop and twirling it around his fingers as he removed it from play.   
  
Barely, though. The simple fact is, those edits are so minor as to make it a case study of careful Descriptive Book Editing.  
  
"Oh, the Myst-verse metaphors, right," Dirk rolled his eyes, and placed the bishop down at the side of the board. "Let's go through this one, shall we?"  
  
I'm not going to go overboard on the meta here.   
  
"But people are going to be confused by that!" Dirk said, grabbing a horse piece off the board- "It's a Knight, but whatever." -and moving it into position. "Look, either you explain it or I will."  
  
Actually, why don't you? I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the matter.  
  
"Okay, fine, let's assume for a moment that this whole 'D'ni Art' thing has applications in the Meta Writing State of things," Dirk started. "You're basically making the analogy here that the Wish Stone plot edit you made here was one of those 'present, but unobserved' Schrodinger type multiwhatever particle type resolutions. Quantum shit, right?"  
  
Yeah, basically.  
  
"So that doesn't count as a retcon for you?"  
  
Nope.  
  
"What does?"  
  
Literally erasing a whole episode and pretending it didn't happen.  
  
"Ouch, alright, fair enough," Dirk said, gazing at the place a pair of eyes should have been. "Given the literal retconning you did to the Candy and Meat Timelines, I can't argue with that." He paused. "Is THAT why you had Kurantula spill the beans about all those side scenes you wrote between him and Garuza?"  
  
I'm literally trying to balance out the chaos of this last act to get people on the same page, basically. All these plans in motion... I want this act to end with people not pannicing anymore and having their goals set up better. You've SEEN how chaotic this whole act has been.  
  
"Damn straight I have," Dirk said. "Seriously, what was even up with Enter's plan with Iyo and Equius anyways?"  
  
You know and you don't want me to say it.  
  
"What? They'll speculate anyways because you're avoiding it," Dirk pointed out. "Some people might say you just didn't HAVE a plan figured out for him."  
  
I mean. It may be obvious I didn't have a clear idea of what Enter's plan was in early EARLY Act 1, right? When Enter first started showing up and setting things in motion? Right? I mean, dude keeps his plans close to his chest and it's hard to get into his head sometimes.  
  
"Not as hard as Daniel Jackson's headspace, evidently," Dirk said.  
  
Okay. First off. Ow. But second of all... I mean. It's pretty obvious NOW what Enter's plan was/is, right?  
  
"I wouldn't go that far," Dirk said, moving another piece on the board.   
  
Oh, really? That blocks that move like-  
  
"I know," Dirk said. "Now spill."  
  
It's the Body Jacking shit! The whole- the- the stupid cards in the chest and the body possession! Enter's trying to make himself AND Enter fully organic without the card possession shit.   
  
"...Okay, no that's stupid. No way he's doing that," Dirk moved another danged piece on the board. "...But shit, it does track, doesn't it?"  
  
Of course it does. Following from Go-Busters that's basically what his plan was there, and all the abusive shit he was doing to Escape was... well. Look, they got away with a LOT because they were Digital Avatars. This is just extrapolation of what he's always been doing. Trying to make the 'perfect' human, except now he's got like, four or five different species to add to the mix.  
  
"And how do I know you're not just making shit up to make people think you've had a plan?" DIrk asked, gazing eye to non existant eye.  
  
 _ ***I'VE*** _Never had the plan. It's all Enter.  
  
"That's a lame excuse."  
  
But it's true. I don't go into this trying to intentionally torture my characters. I just dictate what happens in this given timeline as the dominoes get set up and fall... and I'm seriously not even setting up SOME of these things.   
  
"Like the Zabuy~n stone retcon stuff?"  
  
THAT was always meant to be there, I just needed to clean up the descriptions and hedge my bets that I've gotten it right this time.   
  
"Fine," Dirk said, moving one last piece on the board. "...Hrm, shit. Looks like we drew a tie."  
  
You did that on purpose with the-  
  
"Shsshsh." Dirk shooshed the air. "Don't spoil it for them."  
  
I think it's time we end this sudden mid-chapter self indulgent meta talk, don't you?  
  
"Double Checkmate wasn't obvious enough for you?" Dirk asked.  
  
...Damn it, good point.

* * *

 **EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 5TH, 2012.**  
  
Mondays.  
  
Argo Lalonde had an on-again, off-again hatrid for Mondays.  
  
Today, it was a hate day.  
  
"Not a single monster attack once in the entire time?" Argo asked, gazing at the sudden gap of red and orange on the year's callendar. It had been so regular, then so super frequent... now...  
  
Nothing.  
  
"It's like Garuza and Kurantula getting Jouki back was just a plan they were doing on their own without anyone else knowing," Keiko agreed, frowning. "Do you think they're stalling to try and figure out where Enter's hiding away again?"  
  
"Probably," Argo sighed, closing their eyes. "I also wouldn't be surprised if Garuza's having to deal with whatever aftermath there is from uprooting Jouki's mind from his body. That could factor into a delay. Atleast on their end of things."  
  
"Everyone else is probably working under orders from Gilgamesh, at any rate," Keiko guessed.   
  
"So why no attacks the last few days?" Argo asked.  
  
"They probably just can't afford to keep up the pace and need to take a few days to step back and figure out what they're doing," Keiko offered.  
  
"It just seems weird after the last month of constant attacks," Argo shook their head.  
  
"Tell me about it," Keiko agreed. Then, changing subjects, "Any word from the Unwritten lately?"  
  
After City 1 had returned to the Unwritten, most of the communications with the giant flying Castle ship had gone cold, which had been worrying enough without the recent troubles they'd had dealing with some Aschen harassment. Bastards couldn't give their dreams of galactic conquest a break, even in other dimensions.  
  
"Not as of late, no," Argo frowned. "They're still probably traveling through whatever dimensional space is blocking our transmissions.I'm worried, but at the same time, I know they'll be okay."  
  
"Hard to not be worried with a whole three planets worth of people onboard," Keiko agreed. "Then again... there's the worry that they're the ones who wound up building these nexus tunnels we keep finding." Okay, well two tunnels didn't make it a 'keep,' but two tunnels plus the pre-existing vault in the metalized temple indicated patterns that were ominous to think about.  
  
"Nexus Tunnels?" Argo asked. "Is that what we're calling them now?"  
  
Keiko shrugged. "If you want to? Honestly I just made it up right this second."  
  
"I'll submit it to the Science Teams and Naming Boards," Argo sighed in false lament. "So much paperwork."  
  
"Aye, so much paperwork," Keiko sighed in false lament as well.  
  
Truthfully, it'd be fine, mind numbing paperwork that'd take their minds off of things, and they both knew it.  
  


* * *

  
Heliko and Jetta swooped down to a section of wild desert somewhere on Earth C, where a rather old, and rather glitchy looking SHITTY LIBERTY STATUE lay half buried in the sand. Just one among dozens of others. However, this one was special because of the dig site at its base.  
  
They landed, and with a flash of light, returned to their small forms as Nepeta and Equius disembarked, heading towards the dig site.  
  
"Thanks for coming on such short notice, kids!" Aradia Megido, wearing an Atlantis Expedition jacket, waved to them.  
  
"What's the sitch?" Nepeta asked.

"Well, the local Earth C Archaeology crew were digging here when they came across something that seemed, well..." Aradia shrugged. "Out of place is the easiest way to put it. So they called us in, and, well... I called you in."  
  
"Right," Equius nodded, then, turning to Nepeta, said, "Run a scan just in case."  
  
"Sure thing," Nepeta tapped the scan button on the Shiny Kiramei Changer. __"KIRAMEI SEARCHING!"__ It gave off its jaunty tune, running a beam around the area. Then, it narrowed a beam of light towards a certain part at the base of the JPG-ified Statue of Liberty. **__"DISCOVERY!"__**  
  
"Oooh, right on the money!" Aradia grinned.   
  
It didn't take long for them to climb into the underground area of the burried statue, and walk past Carapacians and Trolls and Humans alike working on the dig site.   
  
Then, they began descending into an ancient, stone structure that the Shitty Liberty Statue had crashed into at some point.   
  
Eventually, they came upon two Dave Striders- one familiar one wearing the Atlantis Expedition Jacket, and the other, slightly more unfamiliar one wearing a red hoodie with a gear emblem on the chest.   
  
"You know I always thought this specific statue might've been trouble," Dave Strider said.  
  
"You've got good vibes there," Davis Strider agreed, glancing at pit before them.   
  
"Oh, wow," Heliko gasped, hovering over Nepeta's shoulder. "Is that...?"  
  
"I think it is...!" Jetta agreed.  
  
It was, indeed, another giant, impossible pit that shot down for miles underground, the outside edges clearly lined up with glowing, painted lines shaped like tree roots.  
  
"Another one of these damned pits," Aradia nodded.  
  
"And it was on Earth C this entire time?" Nepeta asked.   
  
"Carbon dating's putting this pit atleast somewhere around the last three thousand years," Davis said.   
  
Equius whistled. "That's old."  
  
"This Liberty's older, though," Dave added. "Meaning that weird transition where it looked like the Liberty crashed into it? It's the other way around."  
  
"...And that's just right back to creepy," Equius frowned.  
  
"It also means that someone built this pit and this structure around when these Godlings," Davis jabbed a thumb at his Earth-C Counterpart, "were time traveling forwards after ditching the planet in their new Universe."  
  
"So instead of being old like the other pits we discovered," Aradia summarized, "This one is new. Very New. Still ancient, but new in comparison."  
  
Silence fell among the group as they processed that fact.   
  
"The nomadic group might still be active?" Nepeta guessed.  
  
"Either that, or Earth C's 3-thou' years ago were actually 10-thou' years ago compared to the local time line," Davis offered.   
  
"Time's just a matter of perspective when it comes to crossing multiversal boundary lines," Dave agreed.   
  
"So are we heading down there to check it out, or...?" Nepeta trailed off.  
  
"We're going to be sealing it off after we do a more proper search for Kiramei Stone deposits," Aradia said. "So yes, please head down there."  
  


* * *

  
"MASHIIIN!" Heliko transformed, and hovered down down down the pit past familiar, but different scenery.  
  
Inside the rather cramped cockpit, Dave pointed at some depictions on the wall, "That's our first SBURB session." Then, as they passed a scratched record emblem, "And then there's the Scratch, and the reset..." They continued to lower and lower.  
  
"The iconography in the two other tunnels were much more similar," Equius noted.  
  
"Well, both of those were carved into planets native to this timeline," Davis started a guess. "Earth C got moved. Maybe whatever process makes these tunnels creates them based off of the meta-history of a given timeline?"  
  
"Either way, it's kinda creepy," Nepeta said, observing a line-art depiction of a troll who looked remarkably like her standing alongside eleven other trolls.   
  
"Not going to argue that," Both Striders said at the same time.  
  
Soon, they reached the bottom of the tunnel, and found a large stone relief of a house made up of blocks.  
  
A house, naturally, that had an open door in one block leading to the familiar multicolored nebula void that shouldn't be there.  
  
"And there's the damned SBURB logo," Dave Strider griped.  
  
"Jade carved a Stargate to replace the doorway that was there before," Davis stated, "and who knows what was behind that Stone Megazord before it got rooted in place... Thematically speaking, it'd make sense that whatever makes these tunnels does form the whole thing based on the Universe they're connecting to."  
  
 __"KIRAMEI SEARCHING!"__ Nepeta activated the Shiny Kiramei Changer. It pulsed and hummed, but timed out- ** __"NO LUCK! TRY AGAIN!"__**  
  
Nepeta frowned. "But it reacted to a Kiramei Stone reading earlier?"  
  
"It might be this whole subdimension space isn't working well with the scanner," Equius said. "Let's land and search the floor by our eyes instead."  
  
Nepeta nodded in agreement.  
  


* * *

  
A large chunk of Blue Diamond Kiramei Stone was laid down on the table inside the Beltus' Kiramager Lounge.  
  
Gina Kae whistled. "And you say you found this just lying on the ground at the bottom of the tunnel?"  
  
"From the impact marks on the ground, it looked like someone just hurled the thing through the portal at random," Nepeta nodded.  
  
"We already ran some scans on it before we brought it here," Equius added. "It matched atom for atom a sizable portion of the Aqua Kiramei Stone we put Jouki into."  
  
"Well, that's certainly one way to get the ball rolling on collecting that huge amount of Kiramei Stone," Gina said, picking up the large chunk of stone and rolling it around her hands. "And we just stumbled onto it? I'm not sure whether or not we should consider this part of our own timeloop that we put it there for us to find, or if we were always just meant to find it without knowing who put it there."  
  
"Honestly, considering we didn't leave ourselves a note if it was us?" Nepeta shrugged. "I'd be willing to bet we just always find it there with no explanation."  
  
"I'm down with not knowing where it came from," Equius agreed. "Just as long as we find a way to get the rest of it in time.

* * *

**EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 6TH, 2012.**

Tuesday was another day of searching over Earth C.  
  
 ** __"NO LUCK! TRY AGAIN!"__**  
  
Nepeta groaned, sitting back into her seat inside Heliko. "Dang it. That's this sector cleared, and the whole city with it."  
  
"Moouuuu..." Heliko whined. "That means where-ever it landed, it's not in the City anymore."  
  


* * *

  
 **EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 7TH, 2012.**  
  
And so was Wednesday.  
  
 **_"NO LUCK! TRY AGAIN!"_**  
  
"That's the city's north and west outskirts cleared," Equius grumbled.   
  
"Time to try south and east?" Jetta asked.  
  
"Sure," Equius nodded.  
  


* * *

  
**EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 8TH, 2012.**   
  
_**_"NO LUCK! TRY AGAIN!"_** _

And Thursday, as well.  
  
"Gaaah!" Tomo demorphed, and ran their hands through their hair. "Where the hell is this danged Wish Stone!?"  
  
Esprez sighed, and lowered to a halt in the middle of the random road stretching between the mountains connecting the City Harry had killed with Wish Monkey in to another nearby city.   
  
"At this point we may have to consider it may not wish to be found," Esprez remarked.  
  
"Stupid Magic Wish Stones!" Tomo shouted.  
  


* * *

  
 **EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 9TH, 2012.**  
  
And Friday, well...  
  
 _ **_"NO LUCK! TRY AGAIN!"_**_  
  
"Alright that's this city block cleared!" Harley said, before striking the Shiny Kiramei Changer's wheel again.   
  
_**_"KIRAMEI SEARCHING!"_**_  
  
Mahha drove at speeds down the highways of yet another Earth C City under his own drive and power while Harley focused on the Morpher's search.  
  
A few other cars beeped at the car-sized Mashin as he went past them- either out of recognition and support, or out of annoyance for some unknown reason.  
  
"Yes, yes," Mahha muttered to himself. "Your car horns are a lovely soundtrack for this mission."  
  
Whether he was being sarcastic or not, nobody could tell.  
  


* * *

  
"The Kiramagers are looking for something," Kurantula said, watching through a projected screen as Mashin Mahha turned another city block.   
  
"Let them exhaust themselves," Garuza said, sitting in a meditative pose, legs crossed, as he carved away at a mask. "It's likely Enter they're searching for."  
  
"Do they really think he'd be so dumb as to hide on Earth C AGAIN after we found him last time?" Kurantula asked.  
  
Garuza ceased carving for a moment. "...I wonder. Would he truly be so reckless?"  
  


* * *

  
The answer was yes.  
  
Yes he was.  
  
Enter sipped at some tea as he sat at a random cafe on Earth C, disguised as a random person and looking nothing at all like any of his previous disguises. The only thing that anyone could say for certain was Enter's personally were the white rimmed goggles residing around his neck. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. We're back to posting action. Here's Monday's chapter, on a late Sunday evening.
> 
> I apologize for the Meta divergence.
> 
> Next chapter: INTERMISSION: Unrivaled Speed.
> 
> I might just go ahead and post that tomorrow on Monday proper, actually. If I remember to.


	22. INTERMISSION: Unrivaled Speed.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Actually. I'm just going to post it now. This is the second of Two Chapters posted in a row. Go back one if you missed the last one!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Character Death.  
> Phoenix Mythology.

A man wearing the Overdrive Black team uniform ran through a stone doorway, exiting out onto a stone path that branched out into the colorful void of space-time. Cradled under one arm was a large blue chunk of Kiramei Stone.   
  
The man didn't stop for breath, and continued to run.   
  
"Gotta get this thing somewhere safe," He said in a voice that was almost familiar, if a bit younger than some were used to. "Gotta get it somewhere safe before--"  
  
A distant roar of a horse's neigh echoed behind him somewhere, accompanied by the rapid clip-clop of horseshoes on stone pavement, and the man grit his teeth, putting on the speed as he ran further ahead. "Gotta burn the chances of this guy finding it, fast...!"  
  
He hesitated at a cross roads, and saw several nearby doorways leading to other tunnel places.  
  
He took the chunk of Kiramei Stone, and hurled it through the passageway on his immediate right, before turning left and running for that passageway.  
  
Needless to say, his hesitation had cost him exactly what he expected.  
  
The armored, dark-purple colored knight like figure atop the black horse came running along the path and spotted exactly where the man in the overdrive black uniform was heading.   
  
"I've found you," The knight said. "Go, Catastros!"   
  
The Horse obeyed, and chased after the man into the tunnel he'd chosen.  
  
"Your speeding days are over, Mack," the knight said, dismounting from his horse, and releasing his sword from its hilt inside his shield. "Now give me the Kiramei Stone you stole, and you may leave with your life."  
  
"What stone?" The man, Mack, gave a faint grin. "I don't have any stone on me, Korrag!" He held his arms out to his side. "You lost."  
  
"Where is the Stone?" The knight, Korrag, asked, pointing his sword at the man.   
  
"My good sir," the man gave a flourishing bow. "I can't help but to serve you one last time. I ditched it over the edge of the path into the void about three intersections back."  
  
Korrag froze upon hearing the lie, and he snarled. "Impossible. You couldn't possibly had pulled it off. I would have noticed."  
  
"You're pretty shut-in inside that helmet, Korrag," Mack answered in turn. "You couldn't even smell a car burning rubber with that thing on!" He took a deep breath of air, and then said, "Yeah. I love that smell. Shame I'll die without ever smelling it again."  
  
"So be it," Korrag said. "Know this in your final moments, Black Ranger. You delay the inevitable."  
  
His shield opened.  
  
 ** _"EYE OF THE MASTER!"_**  
  
Explosions rocked the room- and a flash of green light occurred somewhere in the massive overkill of death and destruction.  
  
Korrag waited for the smoke to clear, and then he saw a golden phoenix feather burning away with green flames in the spot where the man had once been moments before.  
  
"...Ah. So the Phoneix decided to intervene, have they?" Korrag sheathed his sword into his shield, and climbed back onto Catastros. "Very well, they may try, but they will fail regardless. I can still accomplish my task with the stones the other Rangers carry."  
  
And with that, he turned to leave the way he came, never knowing that if he'd just gone through one more door... he'd have found his prize.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've been paying attention, you should be starting to notice a theme with these oneshot snipits. Certain Character Traits surfacing or lines of dialogue being said...
> 
> Next Chapter: MSK: 01x15: "Ma, Gelling powder sure is overpriced these days!" (Make some S'mores instead.)
> 
> This one PROPERLY will be Friday's chapter. See you then, folks.


	23. MSK: 01x15: "Ma, Gelling powder sure is overpriced these days!" (Make some S'mores instead.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Food Allergies are no laughing matter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:   
> Food Allergies.  
> Fossilization.  
> Picture Embedding/Linkage.

**EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 10TH, 2012.**  
  
Saturday came, and[ Heliko and Jetta were following along a river path](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei15-op1.png) in the forested mountains somewhere on Earth C.

"I hope we'll find something today," Nepeta said, eyeing the Shiny Kiramei Changer on her right wrist. 

[Equius popped up on a side screen,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei15-op2.png) "Nepeta, do you honestly think the wish stone's even still on Earth C at this point?"  
  
Nepeta glanced at him, then turned back towards gazing ahead. "I have no clue. But we have to keep searching here just in case it is."

["So we'll know it when we see it, basically?"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei15-op3.png) Equius asked, glancing away from his own screen with Nepeta on it. "Anyways, this is the next quadrant to search now."  
  
"Yeah!" Jetta agreed as they came to a halt in the newest quadrant of their search grid.  
  
"Alright..." Nepeta looked into a journal detailing where they've searched and have yet to search. "Looks like we're... Oh! There's a bridge! Let's check here on foot for a change!"  
  
"Can't argue with that," Equius said. "I need to stretch my legs."  
  
The two Mashin came to a hover, and their partners got out.  
  
 _ **_"KIRAMEI SEARCHING!"_**_ The morpher chimed as Nepeta struck the wheel.  
  
She and Equius walked around for a bit, with Equius carrying Shiny Breaker and Nepeta swinging the Morpher this way and that until---

_**_"DISCOVERY!"_** _

It pointed at a spot of semi-recently disturbed ground. It seemed like someone had dug a very large hole and filled it back in.  
  
"This is it!" Nepeta turned to Equius, "Gimme the Breaker!"  
  
 _ **_"SHINY BREAKER!"_**_ The device called out as Nepeta put it to the ground, and then- Nepeta tapped the power button twice. _**_"ONE DRILL BLAST!"_**_  
  
"...Uh..." Nepeta stared. "Did I do it wrong?"  
  
 _ **_"GOING IN!"_**_  
  
"Wait wait-" Equius started. "Isn't that the finishing move!?"  
  
Nepeta turned to face Equius- "What?!" -And accidentally pulled the trigger.  
  
A burst of blue energy rippled out from the jackhammer's tip and pulsed through the ground.   
  
_**_"ONE JOB DONE!"_**_  
  


**_WHABOOOOOOM!_ **

Nepeta held on for dear life as the world exploded around her. Poor Equius got sent flying from the shock wave.  
  
 ** __"SPLENDID!"__** The Breaker called out as Nepeta lifted it from the new hole in the ground.  
  
"Oh, well, thank you for your help," Nepeta said, patting the weapon.  
  
"Owww..." Equius got to his feet, and at the same time, Nepeta glanced down...  
  
"Huh?" She stared, and then kneeled down. [Something bright and green was shining up at her from below the ground.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei15-op6.png) "This isn't...?"  
  
Equius stepped into view, peering down. "Oh. What?"

* * *

_"When people Shine, Miracles are Born, Dus!" Duston narrated._   
  
_"Kiramental is the proof of those who can change the future, Dus!"_   
  
_"KIRAMEI, GO!!!!" The voice on the Morphers exclaimed._   
  
[ _**MASHIN SENTAI: KIRAMAGER** _ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffuDLZEVUnY)

* * *

"Garuza! Garuza!" Kurantula grinned as he popped a marshmallow into his mouth. "I just found out about the most delicious Earth Snack and I had a great idea for a Jamenshi!"  
  
Garuza looked away from his work with a Jamenshi Mask themed after a whack-a-mole game, and asked, "And what ideas is that?  
  
"A Jamenshi that's squishy and can't be cut easily!" Kurantula held up a bag of marshmallows.  
  
"...And for what reason would we sent it to Earth C?" Garuza asked.   
  
"No real reason, I just wanna troll the Kiramagers and I'm bored!" Kurantula grinned. "We don't even have to send a Jamenju! The situation'll be sticky enough as it is!"  
  
Garuza sighed, and then dug through his supplies of masks. "Here," He withdrew a squished in, vaguely pillow looking mask. "One of my rejected ideas. Refine it and use it if you wish."  
  
Kurantula took the mask, and grinned. "Garuza! You've been holding out on me!"  
  
"Let me be to finish my work," Garuza said. "This Whack-a-Mole mask needs to contain a vast amount of detail to be able to do what we need to do."  
  
"Fine fine! I'll have my fun while you sulk!" Kurantula stuck his tongue out, and then giggled. "Ohhh... I really wonder what else I could make this mask do..."  
  


* * *

  
 **EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 11TH, 2012.**  
  
"Go Go Go! Let'z go!" The floating lime green Kiramei Stone danced around Mallek Adalov's lab in the city of Atlantis. The Core five Kiramagers were present with their partner Kiramei Stones, as was Mallek himself, who looked rather amused by the zippy green stone.  
  
"So... Enter buried him, I guess?" Tomo offered as they watched the energetic Kiramei Stone dancing around in the air.   
  
"No idea why," Nepeta shrugged.  
  
"Maze! Slow down!" Heliko chased after the energetic stone. "We've got work to dooo!"  
  
"I'm juzt zo excited!!!" The Kiramei Stone answered.   
  
"Annnd... Done!" Atsuya finished his sketch, handing it over to Mallek. "Here you go."  
  
"Let's see here... a Cement Truck that turns into a gun?" Mallek raised an eyebrow. "Well, it's one thing to try working the petrification beam into, I guess."  
  
"I kinda figured that'd be the easiest," Atsuya said, scratching at the back of his head. "Though, shouldn't Doctor Kae be handling the Zord Designs?"  
  
"Given you managed to sneak an Asgard Hyperdrive into Drybe, somehow, we're hedging our bets that your imagination'll just make this work," Mallek answered, handing the paper back to him. "Let's give it a go."  
  
"Alright..." [Atsuya held up the sketch for the new Kiramei Stone to see.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei15-mazel1.png) "Let's use this image!"  
  
"Alrightz!!" The Kiramei Stone glowed, and transformed on the spot. "TRANZFORM!!"

  
"I call it, Mashin Mazellan!" Atsuya declared.

A tiny little green cement truck zord landed on the nearest flat surface, which happened to be the floor, and blinked around. "Woah! It'z a lot bigger from down here!"

"Well," Atsuya kneeled down and picked up the Mashin, who rested atop both of his hands rather precariously. "You did sort of shrink a little when you transformed just now."  
  
"Aaha, I did? Whoopz!" Mazellan laghed.   
  
"Alright, if you don't mind," Mallek offered his hands. "We've got some test runs to do. Could you turn into your weapon form?"  
  
"Alrighty! Whatever you zay, bozz!" Mazellen lifted off of Atsuyas hands, and shifted into a gun form before landing in Mallek's grip. "Mazzhine!!"  
  
"Well, if this works, Garuza and the others'll be in for a rude surprise, won't they?" Tomo asked.  
  
Before any further discussion could be had- the Kiramagers morphers sounded off.  
  
Harley swiped the wheel on hers. "Awh. Our lucky streek ran out. Seers need us on Earth C to handle a Jamenshi attack."  
  
"What timing," Nepeta said as Heliko hovered back over to her side, "just when Harry's getting off medical leave."  
  
"Go," Mallek said. "I can handle the testing with Mazellen here."  
  
"Roger," Atsuya nodded, and the Kiramagers ran off.  
  
"Zoooo..." Mazellan began. "When do we get to turning thingz to ztone?"  
  


* * *

  
"Annnd SPROING!" The slightly larger than usual Jamenshi wearing a giant pink marshmallow mask over his face was busy zapping random objects he passed by into Marshmallows. Marshmallows that the Bechats were busy collecting and stuffing into jars. "Ahaha! Come now, lovely people! Stop hiding and become Perfection!!"  
  
Of course, nobody was coming out of hiding once the Monster Attack Alert had fired off. Only the Kiramagers came running in, the core five, infact, with Harry nowhere to be seen yet.  
  
"Stop right there!"/"What are you doing!?" were shouted from Atsuya and Harley respectively.

"Oh ho! If it isn't the Kiramagers!"[ The Jamen started sauntering over towards them](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei15-mash1.png). "I am Marshmallow Jamen! And as you can see, I have transformallowed whatever perfection catches my eyes into even greater perfection!"  
  
"....What?" Equius asked.  
  
"These objects simply wanted to be Beautifallow, with skin as soft as marshmallows!" The Jamenshi took a marshmallow and squeezed it.  
  
"So you turned random objects into Marshmallows!?" Harley asked. "Why!?"  
  
"To feed a hungry tummy, obviously!" The Jamenshi declared. "Kurantula-sama abswallowly loves marshmallows right now! So I'll be fluffing up Perfection for him to eat to his hearts content!" He continued to squeeze the marshmallow. "And if I happen to scare people who see it by them thinking they'll become marshmallows? Then I get a double dose of Darkness energy to boot!"  
  
"WONDER ARRIVAL!!" And then in came Harry, rocketing in with Shiny Breaker.  
  
He landed then in the usual hero pose, and stood up, grinning. "Now then, Jamenshi, it's time for you to---!"  
  
And then he saw exactly what the Jamenshi was themed after, and he froze up as if confronted with his greatest fear.  
  
"Ah... Uh..." He took several steps back behind his team, and said, "I think actually I'm still feeling under the weather so I think I'll skip this one for now!"  
  
"What?" Harley asked, turning to watch him leave. "What's wrong??"  
  
"We'll worry about it later!" Atsuya said, readying his morpher. "Everyone, let's go!"  
  
 _ **_"KIRAMEI GO! KI! RA! MEI!"_**_  
  
"KIRAMEI CHANGE!"  
  


* * *

  
Garuza entered the meeting room that only Lothor was in at the moment- using the monitoring systems to observe as the Kiramagers began their roll call.  
  
 __"INSPIRATION SPARKLING! KIRAMEI RED!"__  
  
"So, mind telling me what this pudgy one is for?" Lothor asked of Garuza. "Or was I supposed to guess?"  
  
 __"GUIDED SHOOTING! KIRAMEI YELLOW!"__  
  
"Kurantula was bored," Garuza answered. "I figured I'd give him a throw away mask."  
  
 __"RUSH LIGHTNING! KIRAMEI GREEN!"__  
  
"I see," Lothor began. "So what does it do?"  
  
 __"SHARPENED UNSTOPPABLE! KIRAMEI BLUE!"__  
  
"He modified it, so I don't know," Garuza answered.  
  
 __"DEFT INCREDIBLE! KIRAMEI PINK!"__  
  
"Is that so?" Lothor mused.

* * *

  
"Hey!?" Tomo turned towards Harry. "Where's the 'Piercing Shining'?"  
  
"Not today, not feeling it!" Harry waved Tomo off.  
  
"Anyways!" Atsuya started, and the team leaped forwards.   
  
"ARRIVING IN A FLASH! DISPATCHING EVIL WITH A BLAST!" The team called out.  
  
"MASHIN SENTAI!" Atsuya declared.   
  
"KIRAMAGER!" ...But Harry pointedly was cowering behind a bench at this point.  
  
Harley hummed in consideration, then the team ran forwards to fight the Jamenshi.  
  
As Atsuya fought off the small number of Bechats, Nepeta and Tomo charged up their blasters. "Kiramei Shot!" ** __"CHECKMAGE!"__ **The blaster announced, firing off bursts into Marshmallow Jamen...  
  
Which hit his head- pushed waaaaaaaay back with elasticity, and then rebounded back at the two Kiramagers.  
  
BOOM! They got hit and tumbled to the ground.  
  
"He reflected it!?" Tomo asked, groaning.  
  
"KIRAMEI SWORD!" Nepeta and Harley came in next with a slicing attack from behiiiiii...Yeah, you see where this is going right?

[Swords just completely depressed into the back of the head and then-](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei15-mash2.png) SPROING!!!

Rebounding away, the Blue and Green Kiramagers tumble away.

"Swords won't work either?" Equius asked.

"What about his body?" Harley offered.  
  
And then they tried slicing into the Jamenshi's rather sizable gut... which acted just the same as his squishy head did- rebounding them away.

This continued for several more sword strikes before the Jamenshi punched them away towards the steel reeling Nepeta and Tomo.  
  
Atsuya came running in then. Bechats dealt with, combining his sword and blaster into the _**_"KIRAMEI BUSTER!"_**_  
  
This went about as expected, I should mention.  
  
 _ **_"KIRAKIRAMEI CHARGE!"_**_  
  
The shot went forwards, and the Jamen laughed- "I have an unyielding Marshmallow Bodyyyy!"  
  
Cue Rebound back at Atsuya, and the accompanying Big Explosion.  
  
"Hahah!" The Jamenshi laughed. "Time to go look for more Madames to make into Perfections!" And then he stormed off, jar of Marshmallows in hand.  
  


* * *

"So what happened?" Harley asked as the Kiramagers returned to the Beltus' lounge room.  
  
"So, uh... I may have a tiny, little, uh... inexplicable food allergy to Marshmallows?" Harry offered with a tiny shrug.  
  
"...Just Marshmallows?" Nepeta asked.  
  
"How serious of an allergy are we talking about?" Atsuya asked.   
  
"Uhhh..." Harry coughed and scratched at the back of his head. "My skin turns bright red all over my body when I just touch one just even slightly?"  
  
Silence fell for a moment, and then Tomo said, "Oh. Well. That's perfectly understandable."  
  
The others nodded in agreement, though Nepeta frowned, wondering, "But it's not the ingreedients for marshmallows, right?"  
  
"No," Harry shook his head. "For some reason it's the combination of all of it together that makes me react like that. My Mothers think it might be some conceptual thing, but aren't sure why it is that way."  
  
"How weird," Nepeta mused.  
  
Harry shrugged. "Sally's got chocolate as her demon allergy, I've got Marshmallows. Ectobiology's weird like that given it suddenly becomes such a conceptual science when you start mixing Alchemy into it like my parents did."  
  
"Well, then you oughta steer clear of the ship's kitchen," Harley said. "Because we need to figure out how to beat this guy and the only way to do that is if we study up on the things."  
  
"You can pick up the rest of today's search pattern for the Kanaema Stones," Nepeta said, smiling at Harry. "Equius and I will search the city for the Jamenshi."  
  
"Thanks," Harry nodded. "That'll probably be for the best."  
  


* * *

  
"I have a question," Garuza spoke suddenly.  
  
"Oh? What's that?" Lothor asked.  
  
"About that Wish Monster..." Garuza began. "How did you make it work?"  
  
"Why, interested in making some wishes?" Lothor asked.  
  
"Dread Curiosity, mainly," Garuza said, "though if I may, I do Wish I knew where a certain Jamenju wound up after it vanished suddenly some time ago."  
  
"Lost a Jamenju, eh?" Lothor asked. "And that's bugging you more than the whole, what? Kiramagers jacking your ride thing?"  
  
"I mainly wish to understand something of the mechanics of it," Garuza said. "If it's replicatable. If we could somehow... manage to merely make it so that we didn't have to play this dreadful game of cat and mouse with Enter, trying to root him out as we are."  
  
"I see," Lothor crossed his arms, observing Garuza. "So let me see if I have this right. You want to know if we can replicate the wish powers into a monster so that we might easily bring Enter to his knees, right?"  
  
"Yes," Garuza said.   
  
Lothor cracked a small grin. "Well now... that's certainly a tall order."  
  
"Is it possible?" Garuza asked.  
  
"Possible? Sure... but... not without its risks." Lothor started, and then closed the screen watching the Jamenshi work his magic. "Follow me."  
  


* * *

  
In the Beltus' kitchen, three Kiramagers worked towards mixing together Marshmallows. With the gathered ingreedients presented before them.  
  
"Mix Egg Whites and granulated sugar until they're fluffy..." Harley read off of an instruction sheet. "Then mix in gelatin, and leave it in the fridge to set..."  
  
"That seems pretty simple, all things considered," Tomo said. "I didn't realize you needed to refrigerate them to make them in the first place."  
  
"How do they make the default shape round though?" Atsuya asked.  
  
"Probably pouring it into molds, which we don't have," Harley said. "We'll just have to use baking trays."  
  
And so they set to it, with Tomo mixing up gelatin powder into hot liquids to get the gelling process going, and Atsuya and Harley working on the mixing of the sugar and the egg whites together.  
  
"Gee, even on sale, the Gelling powder's pretty expensive these days," Tomo mused, eyeing the price sticker on an emptied box of powder. "I wonder why?"  
  
"Who knows," Atsuya said, finishing his batch and moving aside as Tomo brought over the first batch of gelatin to mix in. "Probably a resource shortage from somewhere."  
  
"What store did we get it from?" Harley asked, snatching the empty box and looking at it. "Salamart? Oh, Earth C's Salamander Market, right?"  
  
"Think so," Atsuya nodded.   
  
"That makes sense," Harley said. "I heard the Salamanders used to run a Stock Exchange at some point with ludicrous inflation."  
  
"Hmm... Inflation..." Tomo mused, taking a finished tray and moving for a fridge-freezer to place it inside. "I wonder if we could inject air into the Jamenshi to make it explode?" They put the tray inside the freezer portion by accident, not realizing.   
  
"I think that's just how you make fluffier marshmallows, though?" Harley offered as Atsuya came over with the rest of the Gelatin to add into her batch of mallow fluff.   
  


* * *

  
Jetta swooped over head over the city that had been attacked.  
  
"No sign of the guy, Aniki!" Jetta reported.  
  
"Unfortunately," Equius grumbled. "What a slippery little Jamenshi."

* * *

  
Garuza and Lothor stepped into a large, stone chamber home to many robotics projects.   
  
"A while back, Emperor Gilgamesh handed me an object of power, and told me to make use of it in a certain device. Time Travel, he wanted. Unfortunately when we sent a monster through it, it created several tears in space time instead of the desired one."  
  
"Ah," Garuza realized something then, "You're the one who helped send that giant eyeball monster through time."  
  
"And we likely also snagged your Jamenju by accident. The vortex was unstable, and unwieldy, and the object shattered into four pieces when we shut it down," Lothor said as they approached a tarp covered wreck. He removed the tarp, revealing the scorched remains of some kind of time machine. "That fragment of the object went into the Monkeys Paw monster we were discussing."  
  
"What happened to the other power core fragments?" Garuza asked.   
  
"Don't know," Lothor shrugeed. "They vanished into thin air through rifts during the shut down. They could be anywhere."  
  
"So if we find the remaining Core fragments..." Garuza started.   
  
"We find more objects that could potentially grant wishes!" Lothor nodded. "Now, we could track the first portal through to its destination- the day we attacked everywhere, including Atlantis. But we didn't bother with the other rifts. Though... we DID record the data from those experiments. Given enough time to decode the data and make it legible..."  
  
"We can track down the time and place they landed, and work from there," Garuza concluded. "Or... perhaps we could re-direct it if we can access the coordinate system retroactively."  
  
"Indeed we could," Lothor smirked for a moment, then scowled. "But redirecting such things is a lot of effort, and Emperor Gilgamesh has declared this project disbanded for the time being. If you're willing to put in the work to convince him-"  
  
"It will be done," Garuza nodded. "But we'll need a proof of concept first."  
  
"Your missing Jamenju, of course," Lothor smiled. "Now that I can track... and maybe even redirect if we're lucky."  
  
[An image of four gemstone like objects](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei16-kanaemastones.png) appeared on a monitor not a minute later as a tracking program was fired up...  
  
Lothor raised an eyebrow, looking to Garuza, "And THIS is just Kurantula being Bored??"  
  
Garuza was honestly pretty astounded himself. "And Hungry, apparently."  
  
"Remind me to deprive him of lunch a few times before we start planning our next attack to lure out Enter," Lothor joked.

* * *

Tomo cut into a tray of marshmallow, making a small piece of the foodstuff and lifting it up. They squeezed the square chunk, and asked aloud, "Now how do we beat this elasticity? Inflating it didn't do anything but make it bigger."  
  
"Ah!" Atsuya started. "Someone put a tray in the freezer!"  
  
Tomo and Harley turned as Atsuya returned from the freezer with a tray of frozen marshmallow.   
  
"Look," He rapped at it with his knuckles. "it's all frozen stiff!"  
  
"Well, that's not going to cut at all," Harley huffed, crossing her arms. "It'd break the knife first."  
  
"...Or maybe not," Tomo said, eyes widening, grabbing the tray from Atsuya, and marching over towards a metal table. "Eurekaing...!" They dropped the tray, and it hit the table. The marshmallow inside shattered into chunks.  
  
"It broke!" Atsuya and Harley exclaimed.  
  
"I think we've got it," Tomo started.   
  
Then, they received an alert from their Morphers.  
  
Atsuya struck his to accept the call.  
  
 _"Everyone!"_ Nepeta reported. _"I've found the Jamenshi! It's attacking a jewlery store!"_  
  
"We're on our way," Atsuya reported.  
  
"Wait," Tomo started. "You guys go on ahead, I'll finish this idea."  
  
"Got it," Harley nodded. "Good luck!" She gave Tomo a kiss on the cheek, and then ran off for the battle.

* * *

Nepeta and [Equius ran in to fight the Marshmallow Jamenshi](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei15-mash3.png) as Harry watched on from a safe distance. 

"This is stupid," Harry said to himself. "I shouldn't be afraid of freaking Marshmallows! They're just eggs, sugar, and gellatin. That's it. Why am I allergic to those things put together anyways??"   
  
As he watched, Harley and Atsuya ran up to join them. If he had the suit on it shouldn't let the marshmallow's texture hit his skin, right??  
  
His morpher chimed then- and Harry struck the wheel. "This is Harry."  
  
 _"Harry, how's the fight going?"_ Tomo asked.  
  
"The others are fighting the Jamenshi, but it's rebounding everything," Harry reported.  
  
 _"Good,"_ Tomo reported. _"I'm hurrying there now, but if you can, distract it and get the others to pin it into place for a moment! You don't even have to fight it directly, just make sure it's standing still!"_  
  
Harry grimaced, then... "Alright, I'll give it a try!" He ended the call, and tapped the morph button. __"SPARKLE!"_ "Kiramei Change,"_ He spun the wheel, and morphed.   
  
_**_"OHHH SHINE!"_**_

"NO matter how many times you come at me," The Jamenshi taunted as Atsuya's sword plowed into his squishy head. "My Body will always be Marshmallowy!!"  
  
Atsuya rebounded, and glanced at his sword, "It's no use...!"  
  
"AND BUTT!" And then the Jamenshi flung his rear end at Atsuya, bouncing him away from the force of impact.  
  
"Atsuya!" The others regrouped around him- and then Harry struck while the Jamenshi was distracted.  
  
"SHINY BREAKER!" He fired it off like the rocket powered jackhammer it was.  
  
 _ **SPIKOOOOOOOOOOM!**_  
  
It fired off and slammed into the Jamenshi from behind- stretching his body forwards, forwards, forwards.....  
  
And then the rebound finally happened the moment the rocket boost's forwards momentum kicked off- sending the weapon flying away.  
  
"Haaaah! Oh! Wow! You sure stretched me to the limit there!" The Marshamallow Jamenshi turned towards Harry. "But your piercing shine couldn't pierce my marshmallowy hide!"  
  
"That wasn't the plan," Harry shrugged.  
  
"Hah! Of course it wasn't--" The Jamenshi stopped. "Wait." Process. Process. "What's that supposed to mean!?"  
  
 _ **_"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"**_ _ The shout echoed out before anyone could pinpoint where it came.  
  
Followed immediately by--  
  
 ** _"IZE PETRIFICAZION!!!"_**  
  
A beam of solid blue light shot out of nowhere- smashing into the Jamenshi's face- and stayed there.

"W-WHAT THE-!?" The Jamenshi's body froze over with sparkling blue ice a moment later. "COLD!? I'VE BEEN FROZEN TO THE CORE!!!"  
  
The Jamenshi shook off the flakes across his body as Tomo landed in the plaza, holding onto [Mashin Mazellan in his gun form](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei15-mazel4.png). 

"That's right you have!" Tomo announced, giddy. "I had a flash of inspiration after seeing those frozen marshmallows! After all, what's a frozen object but something petrified by the extreme cold?"  
  
"Y-Y-Y-You WHAT!?" The Jamenshi shouted, with a cold induced stutter.   
  
"Our attacks will work now with his body frozen!" Tomo declared, swapping hands and firing off with their Kiramei Shot. The blasts struck true, and the Jamenshi shrieked as his body took them rather harshly. Little flakes of ice breaking off with every impact.  
  
"You did it!" Harley appraised.   
  
"Experiment Success!" Atsuya declared with a cheer.  
  
"FINE!" Marshmallow Jamen retrieved a Bechat staff. "I may be solid and not squishy, but don't call me a lightweight!!!" He ran forwards with a roar- and they clashed in battle.  
  


* * *

  
"GAH! NOT ANOTHER MASHIN!" Kurantula stomped his foot into the water. "DAMN IIIIIIIT!"  
  
"Another Kiramei Stone was discovered, hm?" Garuza asked, approaching. "Well, then, it's time we sent a Jamenju to counter it."  
  
"What? Garuza! We don't have a tied Mask, and even if we did, there isn't enough darkness energy for this one!" Kurantula said. "I blew our reserves on the Ring Toss Hildon!"  
  
"Who says we don't?" He raised his hand to his helmet. "Lothor. That redirect? I'm sending you a set of coordinates. Use them _**Now."**_  
  
"...Huh?" Kurantula's head tilted to the side.  
  
"GO!" Garuza declared. _**"LAUNCHER RIGANI!"**_  
  


* * *

  
A portal suddenly opened up in the air- a swirling crimson hue overtaking the city as a Jamenju with a rocket launcher mask on its head landed on the ground. For a moment, it bore a simple red button on its face, but that button was overwritten with another flash of red before the sky returned to normal, leaving it just clad in a simple, yellow and black striped armor plated mask. The portal that had dispatched it stayed open for a few moments longer than usual, drawing attention that way.

[The Kiramagers paused in their battle as the Jamenju turned towards them,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei15-mash5.png) and roared- firing off a salvo of missiles that struck the battle- including Marshmallo Jamen, who cried out- "WHY ME!?"  
  
He went flying off into the distance, and the Kiramagers tumbled to a land, demorphed.  
  
"Owww..." Atsuya groaned.   
  
"That's it! I've already had enough of that!" Harley shouted, getting to her feet, and grabbing the dazed Mazellan from where he'd landed. "Go petrify that guy's rockets now!" She hurled him through the air.  
  
"Got it!" Mazellan transformed into his gemstone form, rocketed into the air, and grew to full size. "MAZHINE!" [he spiraled over the Jamenju's head,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei15-mazel2.png) and then transformed into his Mashin form once more- the concrete mixer truck.

"Mixing it, zeeeeeeee!" The barrel in the back spun to speed, filling up with a petrification concrete rather quickly.  
  
He spun around himself, and opened the ejection hatch- spewing out the rapidly hardening material onto the Jamenju's mask, freezing its ability to launch missiles for the moment.  
  
"Oh yeah! Oh Yeah!" Mazellen cheered, doing a little dance. "I'm on a Rollze!!"  
  
"Nice thinking," Tomo said, placing their hand on Harley's shoulder.  
  
"Thanks!"  
  
"Gaaah!" The Jamenshi returned then. "How dare yooou!"  
  
"Everyone!" Harry took a step forwards. "If it's frozen, I should be able to break it without touching it! You deal with the Jamenju!"  
  
"If you're sure," Atsuya started.  
  
"I am," Harry nodded, then readied his Morpher.  
  
The others did the same.  
  
 _ **_"KIRAMEI GO!"/"SPARKLE!"_**_  
  
"KIRAMEI CHANGE!" Six voices called out.  
  
 _ **_"LET'S SPARKLE!"/"OH SHINE!"_**_

* * *

"...Launcher Rigani's done for, despite it's miraculous return," Kurantula hung his head.  
  
"It's the proof of concept, anyways," Garuza said simply.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean!?" The Mofang asked, irate at the offhanded remark.

* * *

"MASHIN!" The core Five Mashin grew and transformed.  
  
 ** _"MASHIN GATTAI!"_**  
  
And then they combined together.  
  
Harry and the Jamenshi locked weapons for a moment, before breaking away.   
  
Meanwhile the Jamenju broke free of the concrete binding it just as the combining finished.

"READY! KIRAMAGEIN!" / _**_"KIRA-MAGE-IN!"_**_

Harry ran at the Jamenshi, and the Jamenju launched rockets at Kiramagein.  
  
"WAAAH!" Heliko squealed as rockets exploded around them.  
  
Harry began thrusting Shiny Breaker at the Jamenshi, trying to pierce through its staff-based defense- but it got a strike in on him instead.  
  
"MAZELLAN! C'MON!" Atsuya called out.   
  
"LET'Z TRANZFORM!" Mazellan transformed, becoming his gun form again, combining with Kiramagein.

_**"READY: KIRAMAGEIN MAZELLAN!"** _

"Blast him away, Tomo!" Atsuya struck a mimick of Tomo's pose.  
  
"I guess I can take the lead here," Tomo said, slightly bashful.  
  
"It's firing!" Shovellow warned.  
  
 ** _"LET'S GO!!"_** They shouted as a team.  
  
"Mazellen Shot!" Tomo spun their wheel, and Mazellen shot off bursts of concrete directly into the oncoming rockets, exploding them prematurely.  
  
"Another go!" Shovellow declared.  
  
"Damn right," Tomo said, firing off another shot into the Jamenju's face.  
  
"Here I go!" The Jamenshi ran at Harry when he hit the ground away from him.  
  
"Wonder Jump!" Harry pointed Shiny Breaker upwards, and he went high up overhead, before coming down with a target lock straight on the Jamenshi's head. _"TAKE THIS!"_  
  
Energy blasts fired down, striking the Jamenshi.  
  
The Jamenju, unable to fire rockets at the moment, ran forwards to ram Kiramagein.  
  
"If you're gonna charge then So will we!" Harley declared.  
  
"Let's go at full speed!" Mahha declared.  
  
Kiramagein ran at speeds to avoid the Jamenju's charge, running circles around it as Harley took aim this time- "Mazellan Shot!"  
  
Kiramagein fired off, blasting rapid fire against the Jamenju as they circled around it, dragging its running speed down to a halt.  
  
Harry slashed Shiny Breaker against the Marshmallow's chest repeatedly- sending the Jamenshi spiraling to his doom onto the ground nearby.  
  
The Jamenju got to its feet- and roared.  
  
"Time /to /Finish /you /Off, /Ze!" The Six Mashin called off as one as [Kiramagein took up a lineup shot.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei15-mazel6.png)

"Mazellen Full Blast!" The Kiramagers called out, taking aim and firing.  
  
A rapid fire surge of explosions burst forth from Mazellen's blaster, smashing into the Jamenju to finish it off.  
  
 ** __"ONE BEAM CHARGE!"__** Harry readied Shiny Breaker. ** __"GLAD TO DO IT!"__**  
  
"Now You're the one about to face a cold hard allergy attack, Marshmallow!" Harry yelled, taking aim at the manifestation of his own personal enemy. The drill formed on the end of the Breaker. "SHINING BEAM ATTACK!"  
  
The drill bit ran down the projected energy road, and smashed into the frozen Marshmallow- who died apologizing- "I apologize if i said too muchmallow!!"  
  
He exploded.  
  
 _ **_"ONE JOB DONE!"_**_

And the Jamenju exploded a moment after.  
  
"We did it!" The Kiramagers inside Kiramagein cheered.  
  
"CHECK MAGE!" Harry punched a fist into the air.  
  


* * *

  
Kurantula sobbed as he watched a jar full of Marshmallows go return to being the various objects they'd been marshmallowified from. "So much tasteyness... lost...!"  
  
Garuza shook his head. "What's done is done. They can't pull out new Mashin after this point, I'm sure of it."  
  
Though where Mazellen and Duston had been hiding all this time was a good mystery... No, Surely he was just imagining the small drop of fear inside his gut.  
  


* * *

  
"REVERZIFICATIONZ!" Mazellen shouted- firing off a beam of energy at a bowl of fruits and vegetables that had been turned into solid stone. After a moment's pause, the stone retreated, revealing perfectly preserved fruit and veggies.  
  
"...It works," Gina Kae stared on. "It actually works!"  
  
"Now we just have to test it on the weapon, and see if we can turn it back to 'normal,'" Rodney Mckay said simply.  
  
The Kiramagers looked to eachother with hopeful smiles on their faces.

* * *

[ _ **KIRAFUL! MIRACLE! KIRAMAGER!!!**_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzcI8KPeZd0)  
  
"If Mazellen is a Concrete mixer..." Atsuya held up a pineapple and an apple, then put them together on the table. "Could you then mix them together into a fruit smoothie?"  
  
"I can't do zat!" Mazellen denied.  
  


* * *

  
 _ **NEXT KIRAMAGER!**_  
  
"We've finally found it!" Harry declared. "The treasure we've been looking for!"  
  
A pause.  
  
"Say, Tomo, lend me your gaming skills for this one, would you?" Harry asked.  
  
"What!? Why me!?" Tomo asked. Then, sighing. "Okay, guess I'll finish it with my technique then!"  
  
"I WANNA WEAPON FOOOOORM!" Shovellow cried out.  
  
"ALRIGHT!" Harry called out. "GIGANT DRILLER, LET'S GO!"  
  
 ** _NEXT EPISODE: 16: Mashin Transformation! Gigant Driller Marches Boldly Ahead! (GALWIT MYSTO GRYPHIOR!)_**  
  
"Let'z zparkle next time too!" Mazellan cheered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This episode was a weird one to work with. I mean. The original plot had the monster turning PEOPLE into marshmallows, and Silver-kun being afraid of them because of some 30 year heartbreak. >>;;;
> 
> So YEAH. I seriously reworked the pacing of this episode around by... a LOT. And also, hey, tied off that plot thread that was left hanging from the Reset Button Jamenshi episode! There's the Jamenju. Literally the same mask and suit and everything save for the absence of a button. Thanks, universe, for tying this Mecha Debut into such a weird monster. 
> 
> Anyways. Meet Mazellan. Magellan. Mixellan. Mazellen? However you wanna spell it.
> 
> \---
> 
> This is TECHNICALLY a breather episode despite the heavy amounts of setup going on here. We're in the back stretch of the Act, so what's following is pretty plot heavy.
> 
> That said, yeah. Breather Episode. Hoo. Let me tell you those are feeling few and far between this late game in Kiramager's run. 
> 
> This late? It's only episode 15, I hear you say. Yes. Seriously. Pandemic really forced the writers to cut out quite a lot of filler episodes it's looking like. And with what *i've* added ontop of it... yeah. These poor kids need all the breaks they can get.   
> \---
> 
> The Kanaemastone setup is getting a tad tedious, but I've got to work it in now so I can have it properly be set up for the future.
> 
> If I don't get my ducks in a row now, well... I'm sure some untitled goose is going to come along and make a mess of things. or maybe an asofyet unnamed crow. ANYWAYS.
> 
> \---
> 
> NEXT CHAPTER: INTERMISSION: Eclectic Digger
> 
> See you... Monday? Or Sunday, more likely. One of those days.


	24. INTERMISSION: Eclectic Digger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Intimidation.  
> Phoenix Mythology.  
> Implied Character Death.

The Wolf Knight Korrag stomped through a village market in the ancient days of the Pegasus Galaxy, coming across a smiling, elderly woman manning a jewelry cart, one who was conversing with a familiar face- Jade Jackson.  
  
"Excuse me," Korrag began. "I am looking for a woman."  
  
"Well, that's an awful crude thing to say in this day and age," Jade Jackson said, eyeing the armored man, a scowl on her lips.  
  
"Not like that," Korrag said in annoyance, and withdrew a wanted poster. "Her name is Emilia. Any information towards her whereabouts will be rewarded greatly."  
  
"Ah, bounty hunter," The woman manning the cart mused, eyeing the wanted poster with a slick sense of familiarity- notably, the Overdrive team emblem embroidered onto the jacket over the girl's heart. "Tell me, dear knight, what is it this woman's done to earn your attention?"  
  
"She has stolen away with an artifact of great power," Korrag said. "I am tasked with retrieving it."  
  
"What kind of Artifact?" Jade asked.  
  
"A rare mineral in the shape of a large chunk of blue stone," Korrag answered. "It is my Lord's most valued treasure, and it, among many others, were stolen by a band of thieves, whom I am tasked with retrieving their ill gotten gains."  
  
"What do you think, Savanah?" Jade turned towards the woman. "You recognize her?"  
  
"I think I do," The old woman chuckled. "She asked me where I got my jewelry's minerals from, and I told her to shovel off of someone else's quarry. Mine's just about dry and I'm eeking the last out of it that I can myself!"  
  
"Where did she go?" Korrag asked. "How long ago was this?"  
  
"Can't say for certain the where," The woman said, eyeing the poster's bounty price. "As for the when, about, oh... Three days ago, I'd say. I did hear her muttering about bothering ol' Miner Phillip over in the Genii lands, but she'd be barking up the wrong tree by the time she got there. Old Phillip died three years ago. Her information's terribly out of date."  
  
"Thank you for your time," Korrag withdrew a bag of coins and dropped them on her cart's counter before leaving.  
  
Once the sounds of the Stargate activating and shutting down followed suit, the old woman sighed in relief, clutching her chest.  
  
"Are you alright, Savanah?" Jade asked.  
  
"Yes, yes, I'm fine," the woman nodded. "Just had a bit of a scare. Haven't seen that old face of mine in nearly seventy years now."  
  
Jade frowned. "Where the hell did he get that poster from, then?"  
  
"Who knows," Savanah gazed at the Stargate. "Say, Jade, would you be a dear and help me pack up for the day? I think I need to lie down after that scare."  
  
"Of course," Jade nodded, and started helping the old woman pack up.  
  
Neither of them saw the Phoenix hiding in the trees near by for what it was, or understood what it meant that one of its feathers was gleaming yellow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter:   
> SGA:06X15: Striking the Iron
> 
> \---
> 
> We catch up with the 4th former Overdrive teammate. And HEY! It's First Guardian!AncientPegasus!Jade! What a cameo, I bet nobody was expecting that one. XD


	25. SGA:06X15: Striking the Iron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, slept in by accident.  
> \---  
> Enter begins a zerg rush campaign to overwhelm his opponents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Attempted Kidnapping.  
> Mass Data Theft.  
> Espionage.

**EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 14TH, 2012.**  
  
Wednesday morning resulted in Harry Anderson Harley-Lalonde waking up from another nightmare.  
  
But, it was not Harry we focused on. Oh, no, the fact that Harry had a nightmare was incidental to the fact that, in her room in the Diaspora Brooding Cavern   
Dormitories Kanaya Maryam was presently staring at a sketchpad and completely unable to design a thing.   
  
"I've got artist's block," Kanaya said simply.  
  
Beside her at another work station at the desk, Ridley was trying to fix a rather glitched up laptop.   
  
"Well I can't really help with that," Ridley answered. "I'm a Tech Specialist, not a fashion designer."  
  
Kanaya hung her head. "This is true."  
  
And this is even more incidental to the fact that, over on Lopan, in the relocated town of Catherine, Hector Nieves was completely unaware that the girl he was helping debug a frozen MP3 player had a crush on him.  
  
Oh, no, as far as Hector was aware, Zahra Fazal's sudden departure from snarking casually to being flustered and not quite getting her words out right was down entirely to the fact that her MP3 player was literally refusing to reboot after several attempts to shut the thing down through emergency protocols.  
  
Even removing the battery itself- a very last ditch effort attempt to solve the issue- had not shut the device down, leaving Hector to suspect that something strange was going on.  
  
But even THAT was incidental to the fact that over in the Pegasus Galaxy, on the planet presently home to the City of Atlantis, Miko Kubota was feeding her pet Magical Phoenix Bird, Ally, some rather tasty apples.

"Who's a good guuuurrll?" Miko asked, squishing the Phoenix Bird's food stuffed cheeks slightly. "You areee!"  
  
But all of this was incidental to the very real fact that Enter was currently sitting in his private robot lair, observing the progress of one of his Metadroids as the sneaky little bugger went around corrupting and damaging people's computers.  
  
"A simple, unassuming little thing, a simple USB drive," Enter said, watching his army of tiny little robots sneak around hiding in random people's shoes and pockets to get at everything to damage everything that it touched. Enter picked up another drive, attached a cable to it, and sliced the Metavirus Card. "Metavirus, To Collect and Obscure, Install."  
  
As this USB drive turned into a tiny little robot, Enter smiled.   
  
He'd worked around the Seers predicting a single world for this attack, and by spreading out when he made the robots and was sending them out, well... The Seers couldn't predict his planned attacks on a single place if he didn't have a planned attack anywhere. They were likely scrambling trying to predict every place the little bots were attacking, meaning they were going to be blind for his next stunt.  
  
But even so, needless to say the little bots would soon be everywhere, and once they were finished collecting all the data that they were set to collect...  
  
Enter turned towards his prototype'd shell for Escape, and said, "Soon, Escape. Your Papa will bring you back to this world, and this Robotic Backup will be but a fail safe in the worst of events."  
  
He turned towards another monitor, and then smiled. "Uguts. Fetch her. And don't stop sending reinforcements until she's mine."  
  


* * *

A bell rung in a court house in the Villein Settlement on Diaspora, and Equius and Iyo tiredly filtered out of its doors along side many other people wearing various law enforcement uniforms or legal suits..   
  
"Well, I guess that's it for the movie," Iyo said.  
  
"Who knew Enter had done so much behind the scenes for that Movie," Equius grimaced.   
  
"At least that explains the scheduling mishaps," Iyo sighed. "And also why he kept subtly trying to nudge me towards nursing that crush I had towards you. Sorry again about that."  
  
"It was a tragedy of errors all around," Equius shook his head. "Truthfully, the blame falls squarely on that Vice Jamenshi for forcing me to sit that day out."  
  
Iyo nodded. "It's really annoying when badguys try to interrupt our lives."  
  
A teleportation sound occurred- and several of the Not-Quite Venjix Grinders teleported in then, all glaring in Equius and Iyo's direction.  
  
"Why am I not surprised?" Equius asked.  
  
"You know?" Iyo frowned. "I'm really starting to get the impression that Enter has an unhealthy fixation on one or both of us."  
  
"One can only wonder why," Equius said, tapping his morpher. **__"KIRAMEI GO!"__**

* * *

[ **o < \--- STARGATE: ATLANTIS --- >o** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0K2bRdtGlg)

* * *

Meanwhile, Kanaya, Hector, and Miko's morphers also rang off an alarm.  
  


* * *

  
"What's that?" Ridley asked of Kanaya.  
  
"Monster attack in the Villein settlement," Kanaya frowned as she checked the Morpher. "Stay here, I'll handle it."  
  


* * *

  
"Sorry, Zahra, I gotta go," Hector apologized with a bow. "Duty calls."  
  
"Sure- Lood Guck! I mean, Good Luck!" Zahra fumbled, cheeks flushing deeply as Hector made his leave. After a few moments, she slapped her cheeks, and said, "Get your head together, Zahra, and ask him out already!" She adjusted her Hijab to make sure it was secure, then gathered her things and went to chase Hector down, regardless of the Monster threat.  
  


* * *

  
"Alright Ally!" Miko pumped her fist into the air. "LET'S GO!"  
  
"CAAAW!" The Bird cried out.  
  


* * *

  
"Aniki! Let's team up!" Jetta swooshed through the air, becoming a sword for Equius to grab onto.   
  
_**_"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"_**_  
  
"BLUE HORIZONTAL SLASH!" Equius swung a sword strike out in a circle- with the effect brusting apart briefly as it would have passed through Iyo- smashing into the Uguts and sending the things sparking away.  
  
"There's too many of them!" Iyo shrieked, ducking under the grabbing arms of one of the machines.  
  
"Enter must have been saving up for this," Equius grimaced beneath his helmet, adjusting his grip on Jetta as the Uguts regrouped around them.   
  
"What do we do, Aniki?" Jetta asked.  
  
"Wait for the calvalry," Equius said. "And hold the ground until then!"  
  
"And how long's that?" Iyo asked.  
  
"MASHIIIIIIIN!"  
  
"Not long?" Jetta asked as Heliko came whirling in from overhead.   
  
A moment later, Nepeta leaped out towards the ground with Mashin Carry's shield form in arm.  
  
"PROTECT LANDING!" Carry shouted- generating a _ **_"KIRAMEI SHIELD!"_**_ as she and Nepeta landed in the middle of the Uguts- sending some of them flying with an explosion.  
  
"We came as fast as we could!" Nepeta said, drawing her Kiramei Shot and blasting at the Uguts as she took a guarding position next to Iyo. "What's with the Venjix Grinders!?"  
  
"UGUTS!" One shouted as it got shot in the face, tumbling back into more of its mechanical brethren.  
  
"Enter has a strange, unhealthy fascination with them for some reason," Equius said, twirling Jetta around and then slashing a Uguts across the chest.  
  
"It's Spanking Time!!!" Heliko shrunk down to a more manageable size and began whirling around the battlefield, slashing her helicopter blades into the Uguts.   
  
And then there was a pop of magical teleportation- and Mystic Red- Miko- appeared, riding on the back of her flying Phoneix companion.  
  
"FIRE BLAST!" Miko yelled- casting her Magistaff down at the ground, burning some of the Uguts to pieces.  
  
Unsurprisingly, the battle continued for at least half a minute longer- the Rangers just blasting away at the seemingly now endless swarm of Uguts that kept on teleporting in- before a distant linking noise heralded the arrival of Mystic Green- Hector- who a moment later came bounding into the battle. "MAGI-STAFF AXE!" He swung the Magic Staff's axe form around into the battle, smashing Uguts with determination.  
  
"What the hell!?" Miko asked. "Why's there so many of them!?"  
  
"Enter's being the creepy pervert he is, I guess!?" Iyo answered, kicking at the twitching arm of an Uguts that was trying to grab her.   
  
"Ew!" Carry said- repulsing several laser blasts the Uguts fired at them. "Can I run him over, please!?"  
  
"Maybe some other time," Nepeta offered, blasting another Uguts in the face.  
  
"Backup on its way!" Heliko reported after darting into the air briefly. "Overdrive Yellow Zord Spotted!"  
  
"We can't keep fighting like this," Hector said, whacking a robot on the shoulder with his axe, and drawing out his Morpher to make a call. "Kanaya?"  
  


* * *

  
"Yeah?" Kanaya answered, driving in, and not taking her eyes off of the rapidly approaching settlement.  
  
 _"Don't stop driving!"_ Hector replied. _"We'll climb onboard when you go past!"_  
  
"Understood," Kanaya nodded. "I'll bulldoze whatever minions get in my path."  
  


* * *

  
Enter scowled as he watched the Rangers take Iyo with them onto the passing Bulldozer Zord that drove by.  
  
"How pesky, I ought to-" He stopped, his camera catching something else happening.  
  
A girl leaping onto the Zord as it drove past who wasn't a Ranger.  
  
"Oh, now that's interesting. A civilian?" Enter smirked. "Or maybe a spy of Garuza's?"  
  


* * *

  
Zahra stared at Ridley, and Ridley stared at Zahra, as both of them hid in the back of the Zord's engine room.  
  
"So..." Zahra blinked. "...Why are you here?"  
  
"Snuck onboard when Kanaya summoned her Zord because I wanted to see a battle," Ridley answered. "You?"  
  
"Followed Hector because I wanted to tell him something and jumped onboard at the last second," Zahra answered.  
  
Ridley adjusted her glasses. "Perfectly understandable."  
  
A door opened, and a helmetless Miko gazed into the Engine Room, spotting the two stow-aways. She smiled, then turned and called back the way she came, "Found 'em!"  
  


* * *

  
Kanaya's bull-dozer zord turned down a road that went downhill deep into the canyon near the Villein settlement, past the remnants of the one crashed spaceship that still had yet to be scavenged for supplies in building the full town.  
  


* * *

  
"I've taken us down into the canyon," Kanaya explained as everyone gathered within a small passenger room onboard the Zord. It was cramped quarters for everyone to be in there as it was, and so Jetta, Heliko, and Carry had shrunk to their smallest gemstone forms imaginable, even smaller than usual. "There are some cave systems down here we can hide in until the others can get here to reinforce us, Autopilot's taking us to one now. For the moment, it seems as if we've lost Enter's robots, though."  
  
"Just why is Enter after me anyways?" Iyo asked. "First all of the movie stuff, then making a clone of me, and now this??"  
  
"There's also the question of why he targeted me for the movie too," Equius frowned.   
  
"That's something we'll have to work out later," Miko said, looking at the two extra civilians onboard. "Sooo... Meantime. Why the heck did you two stow away?"  
  
"I'm wondering that as well," Kanaya nodded, looking to Ridley. "Ridley, this is highly unlike you."  
  
"Psh, nawh," Ridley waved it off. "Okay, maybe? But after Halloween I kinda... wanted to maybe get a closer look at the action?"  
  
"Wait- What happened on Halloween?" Zahra asked.  
  


* * *

  
 ** _BZZZT!_**  
  
The de-petrified super weapon buzzed in error as it rejected the seven cards for the hundredth time since it had been destoned.  
  
"Come ON!" Rodney Mckay scowled in annoyance. "We went to the trouble of collecting ALL the things, and turned the three stone fossils into un-fossilized tech and you just flat out won't WORK!? Why!?"  
  
"Well, thinking on it," Gina Kae started, "If the cards do contain active memory backups of real people, it's possible we can't activate the weapon until we talk to them and gain their permission."  
  
"...Well that's just dumb," Rodney said. "Nobody said anything anywhere about convincing ghostly spirits to help us power up an Ancient Uber Weapon of Mass Ghostly Possession Disruption!"  
  
"At any rate we don't need it to actually fire," Gina said. "We just need to get it to power on enough to access what passes for its Hard-drive, which we've managed even with the errors."  
  
"Still...!" Rodney motioned at the idle weapon device.   
  
"Still, it's quite an annoyance," Gina agreed.  
  


* * *

  
"FREEZE!" Mazellen cried out as a burst of ice shot forth and hit the small bag of gathered USB-Droids, freezing them all solid.  
  
"BANGARAHT!" And then Rolland swung in and smashed 'em to pieces.  
  
Harley and Tomo relaxed as the frozen shards dispersed into data, releasing the Mashin to turn back to their gemstone forms.  
  
"Okay, I think that's all of the ones we got requested to go after," Harley said.  
  
"Same," Tomo nodded, tapping their Morpher. "Atsuya, Harry, how goes it on your end?"  
  
 _"A bunch of little ones combined together into a bigger one!"_ Atsuya answered. _"We're dealing with it! Go help Nepeta and Equius! We'll catch up!"_  
  
"Alright," Tomo nodded, then, to Harley, "Let's go."  
  


* * *

  
On Gilgamesh's Earth, in the meeting room of those assigned to capture Enter...  
  
Garuza gazed on as he watched yet more of Enter's minions trying to attack the moving fortres that was an Overdrive Team Zord.  
  
"Why?" He asked simply. "Why are they attacking in such a way?"  
  
"It doesn't matter why," Lothor said. "We've got a lock on Enter's location thanks to the mass teleporting."  
  
"Let me guess," Necrolai began, "Earth C?"  
  
"Yep," Lothor answered.   
  
"It seems he was that reckless afterall," Garuza nodded.  
  
"Well, what are we waiting for? We know where he is! Let's capture him!" Moltor began.  
  
"No," Lothor said. "He's wasting his precious army resources on attacking the Rangers for some reason. Whatever his plans are, we'll let him continue to exhaust himself. Then. We'll strike when the Iron's been jammed into the freezer to the point it's turned brittle!" He paused, "And besides, if we give it a bit longer, one of my Evil Rangers will have succeeded in infiltrating the Atlantis Ranger's Inner Circle. From there, we'll be poised to destroy them all at a moment's notice. And once we've defeated Enter...?"  
  
"We crush them all." Flurious finished.  
  
"Indeed we shall," Lothor smiled evily.

* * *

  
The Zord rumbled as it drove along somewhere rocky and bumpy. The small room in the middle of the Zord somewhere shook a little less violently due to the suppressing techniques involved in its construction. Still, the table vibrated just enough for the three Kiramei Stones to have to constantly re-adjust themselves to avoid being knocked around.  
  
"Soooo... Carry?" Jetta began. "I gotta question for you."  
  
"Huh?" The purple gemstone tilted towards the blue-and-white one. "What's that?"  
  
"If Atsuya and Nepeta are your parents, and Lifton and Rolland are your little brothers, then what does that make the rest of us Kiramei Stones?" Jetta asked.  
  
"Jetta!" Heliko gasped. "What an insightful question! But also what about our partners? Can't leave them out!"  
  
"True, but I mean, that's obviously 'aunts' and 'uncles' right?" Jetta offered.   
  
"Uhh, well..." Carry mumbled for a moment. "Yes?"  
  
"See!" Jetta said. "She gets it! So what about us Kiramei stones, yeah?"  
  
"Ummm..." Carry trailed off for a moment. "...I dunno? I haven't really thought about it." The top of her stone hinged up and down as if shrugging. "I guess you're all like aunts and uncles too?"  
  
"Woot!" Jetta cheered. "Cool Uncle! Yes!!"  
  
Heliko giggled, "And so the Gordian knot of a family tree expands!"  
  


* * *

  
Overdrive Blue's Zord and Go-Buster Yellow's Zord flew down into the canyon, blasting away at the swarms of Uguts trying to climb onto the Overdrive Yellow's Zord. The camera begins cutting between the pilots as they talk so I don't have to do a bunch of italics.   
  
"Sorry we're late," Vrissy radioed down. "We had to finish cleaning up a mess on Earth C. That Enter Bastard was throwing Tech bombs disguised as USB drives everywhere."  
  
"How's everyone doing down there?" Youko asked, gazing at the scene.  
  
"Better now that you're here," Kanaya answered, flicking a few switches on her console. "Where are the others?"  
  
"Sally went to get the new Jet Zord working," Vrissy answered.  
  
"The Jet Zord??" Kanaya asked. "But none of us have trained on it yet."  
  
"Well, it's supposed to be able to be able to carry smaller zords if we need to," Vrissy reminded her. "So if we can extract you like that... Either way, last I'd heard, apparently its transportation transponders aren't working yet so that's probably a waste of everyone's time, if you ask me."  
  
"Wait," Youko started. "Transportation Transponders? Why can't we teleport Kanaya's Zord out?"  
  


* * *

  
There comes a time in every villains life when they realize they failed to think of one exact means of their enemy to escape... and then they use it after having forgotten about it themselves.  
  
There comes a time in every villains life when they realize that their own tactic of teleporting out of danger when shit gets too hot... gets used against them.  
  
This was that exact moment for Enter as he watched all of those Zords teleport away into the ether- no doubt returning straight to Atlantis.  
  
Enter just stared blankly at the screen as he gazed at nothing, and then he hung his head and sighed. "I should have seen that coming."  
  


* * *

  
Lothor and all of his accomplices burst into laughter, and even Garuza gave a small chime of amusement.   
  
"How much do you want to bet that Enter's throwing a fit right now over his little plan failing?" Necrolai asked.  
  
"Suckers bet," Lothor grinned.   
  


* * *

  
Ridley and Zahra gazed around at the Zord Bay as they exited out of the now parked, and very much in need of a new paintjob, Overdrive Dozer Zord.   
  
"Maaan!" Miko stretched her arms out, annoyed. "What a lame day this has been!"  
  
"There's still lots of USB Droids to clean up, " Hector reminded her.  
  
"What's up with that anyways?" Vrissy asked.  
  
"Who knows..." Kanaya sighed. "I'm not looking forwards to getting started on that kind of theory-crafting."  
  


* * *

  
Late that night, in the Atlantis Conference room, John Sheppard sighed as he gazed at the after action report.  
  
"Almost 2000 tiny little USB themed Robots across twenty different worlds?" He asked, rhetorically, as he saw the numbers before him plain as day.  
  
"Enter must have been stock piling," Keiko grimaced. "A hundred bots per world? Stupid."   
  
"What the hell was he up to, beyond causing a massive tech support ticket pileup?" Rodney Mckay asked.   
  
"Distraction attempt for a Kidnapping attempt," John answered. "We've got the girl sequestered away somewhere Enter won't know to go after her."  
  
"And let me guess, we're not telling anyone so Enter can't hack systems or people's minds and find out where she is?" Rodney asked.  
  
"Bingo," John nodded.  
  
"Well, let's just hope Enter doesn't get mad and launch another army of tiny USB bots at us," Rodney griped.  
  


* * *

  
 **EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 15TH, 2012.**  
  
Thursday came around quietly, peacefully...   
  
And then a giant robot teleported into the City of Cansburg on Earth C. It was of the usual style of Enter's giant robots as they tended to be when teleporting into a city. It had giant USB Sticks for arms, and nobody was sure exactly what it could do with those to cause any damage to, anything, really, beyond bashing things.   
  
But it didn't matter- the Go-Busters were already on the scene with their Buster-King Megazord, having been alerted by the Seers.  
  
The battle played through normally enough- Dimension Crash, and a swing and a slice, and the Enemy Robot-zord was defeated.  
  
Or, rather, it would have been if it hadn't taken that explosive energy to fuel a mitosis split and duplicate itself into two more droids beyond itself- with the third (rather, first) exploding from the damage taken a moment later.  
  
"Oh not this again!" Youko grouched.  
  
"We'll hold them off until backup arrives," Hiromu said, then turned the dial on his morpher- __"Call Mode!"__ "We've got another duplicating Enemy Megazord."  
  


* * *

  
The Overdrive team's Drivemax Megazord arrived on the scene a minute later, with about a grand total of three of the USB-armed Enemy Megazords present on the scene.   
  
"Uhhh..." June stared on. "What the heck??"  
  
"Great, the return of the USB droids," Sally huffed. "Giant Sized this time."  
  


* * *

  
The ToQGers, Mystics, and Kiramagers arrived within another minute, finding their enemy megazord opponents duplicated to about seven in total.  
  
"You've GOT to be KIDDING me," Rose shouted.  
  
"This looks... a bit much," Tokoha said quietly.  
  
"Something tells me we're going to need all the Mashin for this," Atsuya hung his head quietly.   
  


* * *

  
In his private lair, Lothor lounged on a chair, watching events unfold as his Evil Rangers went about doing their assigned tasks.  
  
"Every time they destroy one, two more sprout up," Lothor said, gazing on as he watched the carnage unfold.   
  
The City itself was fine, the USB themed Megazords weren't really doing much of anything but meandering around aimlessly, stomping up roads and stuff as the Rangers tried to destroy the robots.   
  
"Why?" Lothor asked. "What's the point of it?"  
  
"What I don't get," The Blue Wind Ninja ranger sauntered over, crossing her arms over the dolphin tail emblem on her chest. "Is where the conservation of Mass is coming into play. They're just endlessly duplicating themselves." She paused. "Also, is it just me or are they getting easier to destroy with every split?"  
  
"There's your answer to the conservation of mass, dear," Lothor smirked. "They ARE getting easier with every split. Less and less mass is going to each one, making them pop like balloons to make more of them, each one lesser than the last."  
  
The blue ranger considered that, then said, "I've got to go make a suggestion then. Should ingratiate myself to them further."  
  


* * *

  
Indeed, not ten minutes later, Enter watched as the Rangers regrouped, and just let the damned Vacuum Cleaner Mashin start pulling every USB Megazord into its line of fire... Just so the other Ranger's Zords could swing their swords without even using their fancy attacks to cause every single USB Megazord to get destroyed.  
  
"Well, that was a lame finish," Enter smirked. "Still, I got what I needed."  
  


* * *

  
"But why go to all that trouble?" Ridley asked as she finished rebooting the computer she'd been working on yesterday. "Splitting the droids like that endlessly just seemed pointless. Why would Enter go to all that trouble?"  
  
"He probably was trying to get data on our Megazords," Kanaya sighed.   
  
"But why go to all that trouble for?" Ridley asked. "It just seems... Weird. He could spy on everyone elses' battles if he wanted that data so bad."  
  


* * *

  
"If I had to guess," Hector said, finishing rebooting Zahra's MP3 player and getting it working again. "Enter was probably just trying to distract us with overwhelming force again." He smiled, then turned and handed it over. "Here you go, one functioning MP3 player again."  
  
"That Iyo girl... is she safe?" Zahra asked, taking the MP3 Player and checking it over. "Also, thank you. I was so worried when it stopped working."  
  
"Last I heard they managed to get her squirreled away somewhere safe, but they haven't told anyone where she is, yet," Hector answered. "If I had to guess, they probably threw her on some rock in the middle of nowhere that nobody would seriously expect them to hide someone at. It probably doesn't even have a Stargate." He then smiled. "And it's no problem. Glad to help out a friend and a neighbor!" He stood. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I've got some sleep to catch up on. The last couple of days have been... very very weird."  
  
Zahra nodded. "Right. Yes. Sleep. That's a good thing to get. Take care, get some sleep."   
  
"Thanks, I'll try my best," Hector nodded.  
  
Zahra started to watch him go, took a deep breath, then said, "Hector!"  
  
"Yeah?" He paused, turning to look at her.   
  
"Maybe, sometime, uh, would you want to go get lunch maybe?" Zahra asked.  
  
Hector blinked, then nodded. "Sure thing. Sounds fun."  
  
And so with a repeat of goodbyes said, Zahra watched him leave properly, then squealed with glee. "Yes! Yes! Finally just asked him out! ...Maybe not as a Date but it's a start!"  
  
And a start indeed it was.  
  


* * *

  
 **EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 16TH, 2012.**  
  
Enter hummed along to some song about Fridays on that fine Friday morning as he crafted together a Megazord Design that should withstand the attacks from any of the Rangers' Megazords available at the present moment.  
  
Meanwhile, computer controlled arms worked around the two backup body frames, filling in their structures with components and pieces.   
  
Enter smiled to himself as he finished the tooth baring grin on the face of his New Megazord. "Well... two birds for one stone isn't bad. Not bad at all."  
  


* * *

  
"Well, it's taken us a while, but we've managed to connect one of the Cards to the old Hologram chamber," Rodney said as Keiko, John, Teyla, and Ronon gathered outside the doors to the Hologram room. "If everything goes well, we should be able to project a physical appearance of whoevers on the card and talk to them."  
  
"Let's just hope that everything goes well," Keiko said, glancing over her shoulder as Jade Jackson came running up at a brisk jog.   
  
"Morning, all," Jade smiled. "Shall we go talk to a spirit-in-a-card?"  
  
"Let's," John said smiling.  
  
And so the six of them headed inside the Hologram room, and Rodney powered up the terminal. "Once it initializes it should cycle through the City's population to grab a face to use," Rodney explained. "I figured it'd be easier than trying to synthesize whatever they may have originally looked like from scratch."  
  
A holographic projection of the ARCHER Card appeared before them, twirling idly in the air. Then, it flickered, warped, and began shifting through the appearances of nearly every single human male who lived on Atlantis before settling on the form of Shirou Emiya, of the Cafeteria crew, and then modifying it to taste- that is to say, tanning the skin heavily, and bleaching the hair white.  
  
Glowing orange eyes opened, and then the ARCHER gazed at them all. "Well. I'll have to give Jade credit where it's due, she was actually right you'd all find me eventually. Name's... well. Might as well call me Archer, I guess."   
  
"Hello," Keiko took a step forwards. "I'm Keiko Ayano, current Director of Atlantis. This is Jade Jackson, as you know."  
  
Archer turned towards Jade herself, and gave a curt bow, "Milady, First Guardian," he said, before standing properly, and shoving his hands into his pockets.   
  
Jade smiled, "You don't have to call Me that. I'm not her."  
  
"Fair enough," Archer shrugged.   
  
"John Sheppard, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, and Doctor Rodney Mckay," Keiko finished the introductions.  
  
"Sup?" John gave a small wave.  
  
"I recognize two of your names, Jade told us a bit about you," Archer said, nodding in acceptance.  
  
"Nice," Rodney smiled.  
  
"As fun as it'd be to find out what my other self said about all of this," Jade began, "we, uh, do have something to be talking to you about."  
  
"Right," Archer frowned, slightly. "The weapon. Alright then, let's talk shop. What's the situation? I notice you've found a way to defossilize the Weapon, but why? Bare in mind our perspective is limited inside the cards."  
  
"The Too Long Don't Read is," John started, "A man called Gilgamesh is possessing a Wraith, has taken hold of Earth, and is fielding a massive army across the galaxy who almost all seem to be possessed humans bound by cards jammed into their hearts."  
  
Archer sighed. "Gilgamesh. Damn it. We feared when he escaped into the void he might find his way back eventually."  
  
"We're trying to get the weapon to work again," Teyla said, "or atleast, working enough that we can build our own device to shatter the possession bonds Gilgamesh's forces are using on people."  
  
"Yeah, you'll have a hard time of that," Archer said, taking a hand and scratching at the back of his neck. "See, uh... The weapon sort of... broke after we punched a hole in reality."  
  
"Broke how?" Rodney asked.   
  
"Uh... well," Archer coughed. "You see one of the items built into the weapon was Caster's personal knife- a magic blade of sorts... And that's what let us sever the connection properly. None of us had the time to make the technology work right without it. All we could manage was a temporary disembodiment."  
  
"Like you punched the ghost out of the body, but couldn't sever the rope anchoring it," Ronon summarized, referencing their experiment with Enter.  
  
Archer snapped his fingers and pointed to Ronon, "Exactly that!"  
  
John frowned for a moment. "This Knife was something Caster's host carried around on her, right? Not something generated by the card?" He asked, pressing for something.  
  
"Yes," Archer nodded. "Something of a, well, a bayonette attachment, I suppose. You stick the blade onto the weapon, next to the emitter, and it enchants the energy blow back to cut through things it otherwise couldn't. When we punched a hole into reality, blowing Gilgamesh through it as we did... the Blade just sort of snaped off and tumbled into a silver rift that had opened out of nowhere, and closed immediately after."  
  
"Silver Rift?" Rodney groaned. "Oh god damn it, Damara."  
  
Archer looked confused for a moment, but didn't get to say anything, because John spoke up.  
  
"So this knife. Let me guess," John began, "It's a strange looking thing, kind of a Z shape?"  
  
Archer looked between them for a moment, then asked, "You've seen it then?"  
  
"You could say that," John answered. "Out of curiosity, possibly unrelated, this Caster chick wouldn't happen to have been a Witch and-or magic user by the name of Medea, would she?"  
  
Archer looked at John Sheppard as if he'd grown a second head with how he'd guessed such a thing.   
  


* * *

  
  
Archer gazed at the familiar shape of Rule Breaker held firmly in Artoria Gray's grip with nothing short of a mix of awestruck confusion, and well deserved respecting fear.   
  
"Pardon my Ancient Mesopotamian," said the now added projection of a woman who literally looked like the Fae Witch Medea, except younger, with vaguely more purple-than-blue hair, and with less pointy, rather rounded looking ears. "But holy fucking shit, my other self sounds like an utter bitch!"  
  
"She kinda was," Gray nodded.   
  
"Still, thank you for recovering my Knife from her," the woman, who said to call herself Lilly instead of Medea to differentiate the two people. "Trying to rewrite history across all worlds is a foolish, and quite frankly insane sounding plan. Believe me, when You've been able to travel the Multiverse and see as many worlds as I have, not every life one can lead is exactly the same kind of terrible. Why, just because a woman gets attacked by a platypus and has her legs paralyzed by its venom in one world, doesn't mean she can't befriend that platypus and make it her familiar in the next!"  
  
Archer rolled his eyes, and said, "Yes, yes, we've all heard the story a dozen times."  
  
"And I still stand by the fact that dear sweet Perry was the best Familiar I've ever had in a dozen timelines!" Lilly countered. "But that's besides the point." She smiled at Gray. "Though you may have taken it from her in some form of treachery, I'm glad to pass my knife onto you properly, if it hasn't already taken to you as its new master."  
  
"Thanks," Gray said. "I think it has, though. Still, the thought is appreciated."  
  
"You're welcome," Lilly's smile widened.   
  
"So, let's talk about the elephant in the room," Archer said. "Gilgamesh."  
  
"Yes, unfortunately it does seem like he's come back for another round," Lilly sighed. "The Weapon itself may not be enough at this point, even with Rule Breaker added to its might."   
  
Archer frowned, "That's true, but Archer seems to have abandoned the crystal nature of the Cards we are bound to- not surprising given his shattered- but... but if that's the case he may be weak to any weapon that uses that crystal substrate as a medium to channel energy. So too may be whatever spirits he's gathered to possess people."  
  
"I see where you're going with this," Lilly started. "Make some new weapons out of the crystal, and trap them within it?"  
  
"It's possible," Archer mused. "But we'd need a source of that same type of crystal."  
  
"If you've got the chemical composition of it," Rodney volunteered, "we can start searching the known galaxies for it."  
  
Archer and Lilly shared a glance, and Archer gave a tired sigh. "Alright. In the mean time we should also see about designing the new weapon itself. Something that will let us replicate Rule Breaker's bond breaking effects as well."   
  
Lilly smirked. "Let me guess, we'll be designing it as a bow and arrow, Archer?"  
  
"Why not?" He answered with a small smirk as well.

* * *

  
"It's Kiramei Stone," Gina Kae grouched as the data composition ran through the sequencer. "Or more specifically, a dimensional variant of it that seems exceptionally close to it. I doubt it could hold a personality matrix, but then again the Blue Diamond variant can't really hold one either."  
  
"The same mineral, again," Rodney frowned. "That can't be a coincidence."  
  
"Let's be real, Rodney," Gina leaned back in her chair. "Out of everything that's been happening, what team has been involved in the most ground breaking, life changing events compared to everyone else so far? And more than that, who's been involved with events tied to the others?"  
  
Rodney sighed. "You've got a point there. Kiramagers have been a nexus point for everything going on so far."  
  
"Also, there's the rarity of the mineral in our timeline to consider," Gina said. "It's not like Naquadria which we can essentially make on demand by sacrificing an uninhabited planet, and is inherently artificial in nature. A whole race of people made of the stuff, confined to one planet? I wouldn't be surprised if Crystalia used to have one of those dimension tunnels we keep stumbling across at one point in its history."  
  
"You think they came from elsewhere in the multiverse?" Rodney asked.  
  
"It'd make sense why only that one planet had the right potential mix of minerals and the only other planet we're aware of that even had naturally growing Kiramei stones seemed to have been seeded with the potential," Gina said. "Then there's the fragment uncovered on Earth C, a piece of the larger bulk of stone we arlready fused Jouki's spirit into."  
  
"Random chance theory only can stretch so far," Rodney agreed with a deep sigh. "Okay. So there's probably some other dimension out there home to sentient crystal people and some of them moved to our universe and took their crystal tech with them..." He paused. "What about these Wish Stones the kids are looking for?"  
  
Gina frowned. "It's entirely possible the four wish stones are exactly why they came to this dimension in the first place- trying to hunt them down for some reason? Or maybe they lost them? Or someone stole them? Who knows. It's impossible to speculate at this point." She closed her eyes and massaged at the bridge of her nose. "Damn it. This is getting us nowhere."  
  
"I guess the question is where we'll get the Kiramei Stone needed to make the weapon," Rodney frowned.  
  
"I'll ask Mabushiina if she's willing to generate some for... us..." Gina sighed. "Damn it."  
  
"What?" Rodney asked.  
  
"Just realizing that our lives are horribly complicated and that whatever stones Mabushiina may be able to provide us might be corrupted," Gina said.  
  
"...Why would they be corrupted?" Rodney asked.  
  
Gina gave him a look that said he clearly hadn't put the pieces together yet, and so explained...  
  


* * *

  
Mabushiina sat in her personal quarters in the cold dark expanse of space- that is to say, her personal room onboard the Midway station between the three galaxies.  
  
Her personal request of isolation given current events.  
  
She looked down at her hands- blue crystal swirled with purple stains- and shuddered, before pulling her white gloves back on.  
  
The Jamental power Jouki's body had exploded with had to have gone somewhere. And it seemed that a small chunk of that energy had settled into herself, and was spreading slowly through her body, corrupting it as that dark power was known to do.  
  
"It'll be okay," she said to herself, gazing out the window into space. "When it gets bad, I'll... I'll just have them..."  
  
She couldn't finish the sentence, and started sobbing.  
  
Instead of the normal blue crystals that she should have cried- her tears came out as purple, hued and shaded with darkness. Tiny, fragile rocks that shattered on impact with the ground.  
  


* * *

  
There was a knock at the apartment door to the Strider apartment on Atlantis.  
  
Tomo answered it a moment later, and found Rose Egbert standing there waiting.  
  
“Hey, Tomo,” Rose began, “can we talk somewhere? Privately?”

Tomo nodded. “Sure. I know a balcony nobody uses.” They grabbed their jacket off the coat rack, and the two headed off to talk somewhere in private.  
  


* * *

  
 **EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 17TH, 2012.**  
  
Saturday rolled along without incident. Nothing of import happened, save that, late that evening, someone had asked someone else if they could join their Ranger Team.   
  
"Well?" Lothor asked as his Blue Wind Ninja Ranger walked into his personal room. "How'd it go?"  
  
"Well enough," The Blue Ranger said, demorphing- her height changed dramatically, shrinking by several inches. "I finally asked Kanaya and she agreed to ask Doctor Kae if the Mercury Morpher would work with me." She took out her glasses from a pocket, cleaned off the lenses on the hem of her shirt, and then put them on. "I'm to be scheduled to take the Power Assignment Test within the week."  
  
"Good work, Ridley," Lothor smirked.  
  
And indeed, Ridley stood there, a neutral expression on her face. "Don't thank me yet. Not until we get the Morpher bonded to me." She glanced sideways along the darkness towards an alcove where the Yellow Robot Ranger stood... alongside a more female robotic frame, equipped with a Blue Ranger Morpher. "As long as that Robot can continue to pretend to be me in battle, the Rangers won't have any idea I've infiltrated their group."  
  
"And what about the other girl?" Lothor asked. "The stow-away who followed Mystic Green?"  
  
"She's too love struck to be a problem," Ridley answered with a roll of her eyes. "Trust me, Uncle. It won't matter how close she gets to the Mystic Rangers. I'll be Overdrive's Mercury Ranger before too much longer, and they won't be able to do a thing about it."

Lothor smirked, "That's the most evil thing I could ever have heard you say, you dastardly niece of mine."

Then, they both frowned- and said as one- "We totally just taunted Murphy's Law, didn't we?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Yeah. Ridley's intro was written before the second season of Glitch Techs launched. Zahra, also from Glitch Techs, now gets to appear as well as I rapidly reworked Ridley's revised role as a Glitch Techs Representative in this story. 
> 
> As for Murphy's law. Yeah. Ya think? XP
> 
> As an aside, as two of the Ninja Rangers from their last appearance have turned out to be robots, you have to wonder what the chances more of them are robots too? I won't say what those chances are, but they're probably higher than you'd think. 
> 
> \---
> 
> Have an Oh SHIT moment with Mabushiina here, and a HEY, It's THOSE PEOPLE moment with Archer and Lilly Caster Medea there! 
> 
> More setup being laid in ground work for stuff here... Stuffs stuffs stuffs. We're nearing the end of act so I gotta squeeze in prepwork where I can. 
> 
> \---
> 
> Next Chapter, the last of the Overdrive intermissions: INTERMISSION: Ballad of Serenity
> 
> See you Monday.


	26. INTERMISSION: Ballad of Serenity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get this chapter a bit early, Because Hiveswap Act 2 trailer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Phoenix Mythology.  
> Character Death.  
> Self Sacrifice.

A man in his twenties wearing a ragged Overdrive Blue uniform hopped along a series of rocks resting in a raging river coursing through a large forest on the mountains- carrying a small boy on his back.  
  
"Don't worry, Simon," The man said, "we'll get you to the village and they'll heal you right up no problem!!"  
  
The boy weekly mumbled "Aniki" as he clung as tightly as he could.  
  
As they finished crossing the River, the dark wolf knight, Korrag, stared after them from atop Catastros' back. Similarly, soaring overhead was a phoenix, whose feathers gleamed blue.  
  
It didn't take too much longer for the man to reach the village in question, nestled away in the forest and the hills. He deposited the boy safely in the care of the elders, and then began to make his way out of the village with a shovel and map in hand.  
  
Korrag followed at a distance. The Phoenix orbited overhead.  
  
"Aniki?" The man asked to himself, digging into the dirt near some rock. "Kid... if you knew what I was destined for... You wouldn't want me to be your big brother."  
  
Finally, the man's shovel hit something hard, and he bent down to start unearthing it...  
  
"Finally," Korrag stepped into the small clearing between the trees. "You've led me right to it, Jaxton."  
  
The man sighed- stopping what he was doing, and dropping something small into the dirt before he stood. He leaned backwards, standing tall and proud, gazing up at the heavens.  
  
Finally, he said, "Well, Korrag. I guess I should give you credit for letting me save the kid at least."  
  
"Your fate is to die by my hands," Korrag said, "his is not."  
  
"My fate is only to die because some stupid wish monkey decided it'd be great to wish me and my team out of existence," The man, Jaxton, didn't look away from the sky. "'I Wish you'd all Die!' he said. Then Poof. We got scattered across time and space and who knows whatever other dimensional shenanigans. Yeah, we're fated to die. But it's not instant. It's even kind of forgiving. Could be we die by your hands." He looked over finally, his piercing blue eyes shining sharpened, unstoppable. "Or. Could be we die of old age because I beat you senseless. Who knows. That's the mystery of wishes like this." And then he turned to fully face the Knight, and grinned. "You never did find our Yellow Ranger, now did you?"  
  
"No," Korrag answered. "She has eluded me." He drew his sword. "Now bring me the Stone that you stole."  
  
"Can't do," Jaxton said, kicking at the pit he'd been digging. "I wasn't digging for it here."  
  
"...Lies," Korrag said.  
  
"Feel free to believe that, Amigo," Jaxton said. "You can take my Love, take my land, and take me where I can't stand. You can burn the land and boil the seas... But what's buried here isn't what you're after." He pointed his right hand upwards, extending his index finger towards the heavens. "Because you can't take the Sky from Me!" And then he lowered his finger, pointing dramatically at Korrag. "Go ahead! Kill me if you want. Maybe in the next life I'll be the little kid looking up to his big strong Aniki like Simon thought of me. But know this, Korrag. You've already lost. You just don't know it yet."  
  
Korrag stared for a moment, before opening his shield. "Idiot."  
  
The explosion that rung out a moment later scattered birds from the forest, all save the blue Phoenix circling overhead- who darted in with a flash.  
  
When the smoke cleared, Korrag sighed in annoyance as he saw the blue feather dissolving away where his target had been.  
  
"Wishes," he said, shaking his head. "If he thinks to trick me with such a thing..." He walked over, and gazed down into the pit that had been dug.   
  
And Korrag faltered.

"...A Giant Metal Face?"  
  
As it turned out, the man had been right.   
  
He hadn't found the stolen crystal here at all.  
  
What a waste of time.  
  
Korrag looked up at the retreating form of the bird. "Very well, Phoenix. Play your games."  
  
He turned to leave, and then promised:  
  
"When next we meet, this story will have a vastly different outcome."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter:  
> MSK: 01X16: Mashin Transformation! Gigant Driller Marches Boldly Ahead! (GALWIT MYSTO GRYPHIOR!) (PART 1)
> 
> \---
> 
> I realize now as the Hiveswap Act 2 trailer dropped from the Fissure that my plans to wait while writing Stargate Alternia had been thoroughly destroyed as expected.
> 
> I'd tried to speculate what content it may have contained, but I realize now such conjecture was futile. Instead, the story would continue branching off into its own direction, of which i had only a fleeting glimpse.
> 
> Alas, the division of the two timelines would splinter off into eternity, and I find myself content with the direction my Story had taken... and yet the Writing of the original story still called, unknown, and tantalizing in its Mystery.
> 
> A miraculous story, returned from the void of development hell, thought lost for so long... And as I tumbled into the Fissure once more, producing even further content for Stargate Alternia, I cherished the potential of a return to form... 
> 
> And as I cherished, I also dreaded. I dreaded, and I hoped, and I fantasized... but how would this impact the story so far diverged from that original premise?
> 
> And as I did ponder those thoughts, I knew I had to let it go. For my path was in another direction.
> 
> And so as I fell into the Fissure, I realized that the stories had diverged too greatly. The point for reconciliation had passed. Both would continue spiraling onwards into that Starry Expanse... but our destinations were vastly different places. 
> 
> And so I close, once again daring to believe that perhaps the Ending Has Not Yet Been Written.
> 
> \---
> 
> TL;DR: It's About Danged Time, Hiveswap. Can't wait to see what we get going forwards. Hope it's worth all the waiting. ^u^


	27. MSK: 01X16: Mashin Transformation! Gigant Driller Marches Boldly Ahead! (GALWIT MYSTO GRYPHIOR!) (PART 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first Kanaema Stone is discovered; "A leap into the sky turns into a Rider Kick."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Poisoning.  
> Whack-a-Mole.  
> Giant Hammers.  
> Hefty Picture Embedding.  
> Some Picture Linkage.

**EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 18TH, 2012.**  
  
It was a Sunday morning and all was fine on Earth C... Except then a giant hammer themed Jamenju appeared, and the Kiramagers were forced to dispatch to fight it on sudden notice.

"BOING-A-GRAHT--!" Rolland shouted- barreling down on the Jamenju's hammer head- only to bounce off- "OAK!?"  
  
Kiramagein swung Jetta- smashing against the armored head- "What a hardhead!" Jetta shouted, being forced down by the Jamenju's own strength "This Jamenju's tough!!" He swung to strike again.  
  
The Jamenju sparked, roared, then hammered Kiramagein in the chest.  
  
"Was there even a Jamenshi this time?" Harley asked.  
  
Her morpher glowed as Mahha responded, "The Seers weren't alerted, so they must have gotten the Darkness Energy from somewhere!"  
  
"Let's just get rid of it fast!" Equius decided, and rolland was lifted up for another strike.  
  
"HAMMER MEET NAIL!" Rolland shouted- his hammer meeting the Jamenju's hammer head...

Sparks flew as the two hammers clashed against each other, and then....!  
  
The Jamenju's hard head won out, sending Kiramagein tumbling backwards.  
  
Nepeta shrieked as they landed, and a moment later, the Jamenju tunneled underground like a freaking mole.  
  
"Ahh!" Atsuya climbed up on his console. "It got away!"  
  


* * *

  
Onboard the Beltus in orbit over Earth C...  
  
"We've finalized the connections and should be ready to begin testing the Kiramei Stones for compatability," Gina Kae reported to the five Kiramagers and the various Kiramei stones. "Once done, Mashin Drijan can turn into a Megazord like Kiramagein and Ghost Express."  
  
"About time!" Fiya said. "If we had that, that hammer-headed Jamenju wouldn't have gotten away!"  
  
"Letting evil escape is unforgivable!" Heliko shouted.  
  
"Don't get all worked up now," Gina said. "We still have to test and see who's the most compatible. It'll still be a fine tuning process until we get a lock on who'll be the best to synchronize with the Zord."  
  
"Still, Drijan might just be enough to pierce through that head regardless," Atsuya said, crossing his arms. "The Drill's spinning plus the flat surface..." he put his two hands together. "Unf! It'll break through it for sure."  
  
"Speaking of, where is Harry anyways?" Harley asked. "He should have beaten us to the fight."

"Ah! Help! HELP, DUS!!!" And then they turned to look at a door as Duston came rolling in, with a groaning Harry clinging to him.

* * *

_"When people Shine, Miracles are Born, Dus!" Duston narrated._   
  
_"Kiramental is the proof of those who can change the future, Dus!"_   
  
_"KIRAMEI, GO!!!!" The voice on the Morphers exclaimed._   
  
[ **_MASHIN SENTAI: KIRAMAGER_ ** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffuDLZEVUnY)

* * *

Needless to say, Marsti glared at the boy as she discharged him back into the care of his teammates in the lounge room. "Be glad your crystaline body makeup kept you from taking serious damage."

"I know, I am," Harry nodded.

"And next time," Marsti turned towards the glimmering gemstone form of Duston, resting with the other Kiramei Stones. "Duston? Just bring him to the infirmary."  
  
"I will, Dus!" Duston said. "I just... forgot the way. Is all. This ship is confusingly big, Dus!!"  
  
"What happened, Harry?" Nepeta asked.  
  
"I found it," Harry said. "The Kanaema Stone from the Wish Twister."  
  
The Kiramagers looked at him with various looks- Concern from Nepeta, Consideration from Atsuya, Surprise from Harley, Acknoweldgement from Equius, and a neutral expression from Tomo.  
  
"Well, that's great and all," Tomo started. "But I notice you don't have it on you."  
  
"Well..." Harry held up his Morpher. "It's easier if I just show you."  
  
It took a moment for him to link up his Morpher's tracking data history to the display table- which made Gina raise an eyebrow- and then he activated a 3d replay of what happened, appearing on the hologram table.  
  


* * *

  
 **_"DISCOVERY!"_** _The Morpher chimed as Harry approached an old mansion._  
  
 _"...Isn't this Jane Crocker's old place?" he asked._  
  
 _"How should I know, Dus?" Duston asked, hovering over the boy's shoulder._  
  
 _They walked closer- "Estate Sale," Harry pointed at an overturned sign... One that had been replaced with another. "Treasure Challenge?"_  
  
 _"'Win the game and become rich,' Dus," Duston read off the sub line. "I guess whoever bought this place after it was sold off decided to hold a treasure hunt?"_  
  
 _"And there's something inside setting off the scanner," Harry glanced upwards. "Now just what can all this mean?"_  
  
 _"It's Just as It Says!" A hologram appeared suddenly, a flat screen hued purple featuring a human man with a red dot on his nose, who spoke these words. "I am the master of this mansion! The Rules are simple! Just reach the top floor..." He backed away and revealed a room full of treasure. "And all this treasure is yours!"_  
  
 _Harry and Duston observed it all for several moments keenly... then- "Dus! The Clock!!" Duston sharply whispered._  
  
 _Harry looked at the grandfather clock along the back wall, and he saw it.[An orange crystal shaped like a claw embedded into the top of the clock](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei16-wam3.png). _

_Harry blinked, then he grinned. "I don't care about that treasure, but the Clock? I'll take that grandfather clock."_   
  
_"The clock??" The Man turned to look at it, frowning. "Well, it's a weird choice, because this thing ain't a treasure, but sure! Whatever floats your boat, pal!" He drew out his cane, and pointed it forwards. "Let the Game Start!"_   
  
_More holograms flashed around Harry- the words "GAME START!" as well as the removal of ones disguising four green plates on the ground, circular in nature, with recessed holes in them._   
  
_Harry had the misfortune of standing over one as a giant whack-a-mole head popped out and slammed into him._   
  


* * *

  
Harry cut the feed before it could continue, grimacing. "I got bounced around like mad for almost the entire time you all were fighting that Jamenju." Harry set the device to project several images- the Stone and the Mansion among them.  
  
The room was quiet with hushed whispers as the Kiramei Stones and the Kiramagers talked amongst themselves for a moment.  
  
"It's definitely one of those stones, alright," Fiya said. "Or at least a damned good knock off. But to trigger the scanner like that...?"  
  
"It's definitely it," Duston said. "I felt such a chill down me when I saw it, Dus! Never felt anything like it before ever, Dus!"  
  
"Agreed," Esprez said, floating over to examine the image of the grandfather clock. "It's like looking straight at the Myth itself."  
  
"They say that there's no Stone out there that won't know a Kanaema Stone on sight," Shovellow said. "The hologram's likely adding a layer of interference, but still..." Shovellow shuddered on the table, vibrating nervously. "The Ultimate Secret Treasure. Four in the entire universe. Together they grant the greatest of wishes... even greater than the ones they grant on their own."   
  
"Whack a mole?" Tomo asked, and suddenly the conversation turned towards them.  
  
"Ah, yeah," Harry nodded. "That's the game alright. I didn't have a hammer to whack anything with, and it caught me off guard too..."  
  
"Of course there wasn't a hammer," Tomo said. "We were Fighting with It."  
  
"Huh?" Rolland asked, "You mean me?"  
  
"Well, Yes, but also No," Tomo said. "The Jamenju we fought this morning was a giant Hammer mask Basura type. Think about the thematic ties we've seen before with the small ones and the big ones. Most of the time we don't run into Jamenju that don't match the Jamenshi we've fought off."  
  
A spark of realization cut through the room.  
  
"That would explain where the darkness energy came from," Mahha said. "That kind of nasty surprise..."  
  
"It wouldn't take that many people," Jetta said. "If they were captured, or if they kept coming back for more?"   
  
"The Seers wouldn't see an attack like this coming because it wasn't an attack," Atsuya said. "All it is is preying on people who are agreeing to it before hand."  
  
"So, we'll go and play this game and win," Tomo said. "We'll need Rolland to-"  
  
"No way!" Shovellow suddenly interjected. "We'll need Shovellow reserved for if the Jamenju returns."  
  
"But we'll need a hammer capable of defeating the Whackamole," Tomo countered, frowning. "If we're reserving Rolland to fight the Jamenju..."   
  
"Why not just use me for it?" Shovellow asked.  
  
"...Huh?" Tomo asked.  
  
"Combine me with your sword, I'll turn into a hammer too!" Shovellow said. "A lighter one, too! Rolland's too unwieldy for whack-a-mole! You need something smaller and lighter! Ah, no offense, Rolland."  
  
Rolland said nothing but a "humf!" and a "I can be small and light..."  
  
Nepeta patted the orange stone lightly and said, "It's fine." She smiled, and said, "We should split up, half waiting in reserve incase the Jamenju surfaces again."  
  
"Agreed," Atsuya nodded. "Let's go down to the place. I'll draw up a hammer form good for Whack-a-mole on the way."

* * *

 ** __"KIRAMEI GO!"_ "KIRAMEI CHANGE!" _"LET'S SPARKLE!"__**  
  
The mansion owner shot to attention as he heard those words, and looked out through his holographic window.   
  
"What-!?" He stared on. "The Kiramagers!?"  
  
Kiramei Yellow stood next to the unmorphed Atsuya and Harry, tapping their Morpher.  
  
 _ **_"MASHIN SHOVELLOW!"_**_  
  
"MASHIN!" The yellow gemstone zord appeared then- except with a flash of light- "I mean, STONE!" -she abandoned her Mashin detailing, reverting to a basic Kiramei Stone.  
  
"Alright, let's combine," Tomo said, holding a Kiramei Sword out next to the Kiramei Stone.   
  
"Here's the image!" Atsuya presented a sketchbook, and with a flash of Kiramental...  
  
[The danged sword and stone combined into a hammer](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei16-wam4.png).

"Complete! Yellow Stone Hammer! HAHAH!" Shovellow cried out with glee. "Now I'm a weapon Mashin too!"  
  
The Game field was still set- the Whack-a-moles were still popping, and the mansion onwer couldn't stop it.  
  
The game recognized the new player entering automatically and--  
  
"WHAMMO!" Shovellow swung out and struck a Mole Head, and a splitting headache errupted within the Mansion Owner's, well, head.  
  
He could only watch on as Mole after Mole was struck and then- POOF! The holes vanished, and a victory fanfare appeared- "Stage 1 Cleared!"

"DAMN IT!" He leaped out the window and landed next to the Kiramagers, gripping at his head. "You Kiramagers... to think you would challenge me! How did you even find this place!?" He snarled. "Doesn't matter." He pulled out a large mask object and put it on over his face. **_"JAMEN ON!"_**  
  
[He transformed into a Jamenshi,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei16-wam6.png) and was about to introduce himself--

"You're Whack-A-Mole Jamen, right?" Tomo asked, sauntering forwards, right hand gripping Shovellow's hammer shaft, left hand placed frimly on their left hip.  
  
"Whaaa! How'd you figure that out!?" Whack-A-Mole Jamen asked.  
  
"Your Hammer attacked the city without you," Tomo said with a shrug. "It was an easy matter to figure out that you're after fortune-seekers, luring them in to generate that Darkness Energy, right?"  
  
"Well that's right!" The Jamenshi readied his cane-staff. "I caught wind of an estate sale and found some greedy people searching the place for greedy means!" He explained. "Then, I ran them through this game, turned them into cards that perpetually generate Darkness Energy, cleaned up the place, and absorbed their monetary assets into the treasure room!" He laughed. "That grandfatherclock, for example, came from the back of some greedy clock collector's truck as he sought to buy every clock in this estate! Haha! I put it on display anyways for the heck of it! Ever since that day, I've been using this estate as my playground to generate darkness energy!"  
  
"Well, thanks for explaining," Tomo readied Shovellow. "Now it's time to end this game!"  
  
"Not so fast!" Whack-a-Mole Jamen's staff turned into a stage sign. "You gotta clear my game to beat me! All stages must be passed!"  
  
He stabbed the sign into the ground and then ran off.  
  


* * *

  
"AH! DAMN!" Kurantula stomped into the water. "My perfect Mofang-tech Whack-a-Mole trap got discovered by the Kiramagers! Now Enter'll know to avoid it!"  
  
"Why are they after a clock for?" Garuza asked, marching past his companion. "I need to investigate."  
  
"What? Why?" Kurantula asked.  
  
"No reason, just a vibe." Garuza stormed off. "Reactivate Hammer Basura."  
  


* * *

  
"Everyone, we've found the Jamenshi," Atsuya reported to his team.  
  
 _"Good,"_ Equius replied over the line. _"We'll be right there to-"_  
  
An alarm sounded.  
  
 _"Ah, shit,"_ Harley moaned. _"I knew that was coming."_  
  
 _"Atsuya, Tomo, Harry?"_ Nepeta asked. _"What now?"_  
  
"Go and help," Tomo said to Atsuya. "Harry and I can finish this."  
  
"Alright," Atsuya nodded, then ran off to help deal with the Jamenju, replying, "I'm on my way to help!"  
  
Harry sighed, and then leaned against the Next Stage Sign. "What a pain."  
  
"Let's just finish this and get the fight over with," Tomo said, demorphing, and still holding Shovellow.  
  
"Yeah," Harry nodded, and they started following the next stage signs to their destination.  
  
"Say, Harry," Tomo started after a few moments. "Have you been sleeping well?"  
  
"...Did Sally put you up to this?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, but she told Vrissy, who told June, who told Rose, who told me that you aren't sleeping well," Tomo answered.  
  


* * *

  
_"It's concerning," Rose Egbert said in flashback, leaning against one of the city's balcony railings. "I don't think it's my right to push things along, and Sally's apparently complained a lot about him waking up in a panic a lot ever since Halloween. I've asked her, and she says it's not a problem, and that Harry's handling it, but..." She gave Tomo a pained smile. "You probably should check up on him, as a teammate. It wouldn't do any of us any good if he's sleep deprived, especially after what happened to Atsuya."_   
  


* * *

  
  
Harry sighed. "Look, It's... I won't say it's not a problem, but it's something we probably shouldn't be talking about in the open like this."  
  
"Look," Tomo said. "We're trusting you to fight with us. If something's wrong and you feel like you can't open up to us... especially if it's keeping you from sleeping... You need to stop keeping that giant lock on your heart closed and open it instead."  
  
Harry paused in his walk, and Tomo pushed past, pausing only to pat him on the shoulder.  
  
"So when this mission's over, tell us, alright?" Tomo asked, then carried on.  
  
"...Giant lock on my heart?" Harry asked a moment later, then carried on after Tomo.  
  
They arrived at the next sign not long after that, and found the sign pointing inside.  
  
"Second stage is inside, huh?" Tomo winced. "That'll be tight quarters."  
  
"Let's go," Harry said, pushing inside the doors...  
  
Bechats swarmed out of the woodwork immediately upon their entering.  
  
"Not these guys!" Shovellow complained.  
  
"Lovely," Harry prepared to crack his knuckles. "An audience."  
  
 _ **"NEXT STAGE! BOSS FIGHT!"** _The Jamenshi called out from atop the nearby stairwell. "There's only one Mole! If you hit it, you'll clear the stage! But big boss here won't let you get to it easily!" He pointed upwards towards the stairs' upper level...  
  
Even as Garuza stepped out into view from a doorway at the bottom.  
  
"Eh!? That side!?" The Jamenshi asked, startled.  
  
"Well well," Garuza said, ignoring that to focus on the Kiramagers. "We meet again."  
  
"Harry," Tomo glanced at the Silver Ranger. "Can you handle him?"  
  
"Yeah," Harry growled, glaring at the Crystalian. "I can."  
  
"Good, Shovellow and I'll clear the game," Tomo said.  
  
"Damn right!"' Shovellow agreed.  
  
"Counting on you, then," Harry said. "Let's rock this stage play."  
  
They tapped their morphers- **__"SHINE!"/"KIRAMEI GO!"__**  
  
"KIRAMEI CHANGE!"  
  


* * *

  
 _ **_"Let's Sparkle!"_**_ Tomo ran up the stairs, bashing past Bechats with Shovellow- up until one exploded on them, temporarily coating them in a murky green ooze that quickly seemed to evaporate.  
  
"Ew!" Tomo protested.  
  
"Slimers! Hate them!" Shovellow said, annoyed.  
  


* * *

  
 _ **_"Oh Shine!!"_**_  
  
Harry flipped over a railing and landed in the yard, across from Garuza, who ran in and began slashing with furious strikes of Jamental.  
  
Harry's Shiny Breaker came in to clash against those strikes- blocking them, until Garuza knocked it out of Harry's hands with a laugh.  
  
Garuza swung his sword, Harry dodged, and dodged again- this time having to blcok with his feet before rolling away.  
  
Garuza swung into another deflecting kick- "Come, Shiny Breaker!" Harry called- ** _SPIKOOOM! _"SHINY BREAKER!"__** \- he caught his weapon, and then blocked a strike from Garuza.  
  
They struggled for a moment- several moments infact, and Garuza chuckled darkly.  
  
"I sense some Jamental within you, Kiramei Silver," he taunted. "And a Monstone, as well!"  
  
"What?" Harry asked, startled.

Garuza broke the block and kicked Harry down to the ground.  
  
He rolled to a stop, and Garuza readied his sword. "Here, Let me Help You!" Jamental Power flowed around the Crystalian, and then he struck out at Harry with the energy- [a downwards slice that smashed into him and began to dive deep into his very being](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei16-wam7.png).  
  


Harry had just gotten to his feet, and fell down to his knees a moment after being struck, clutching at his chest.  
  
"A scratch like this... is nothing...!" He hissed at the Crystalian.  
  
"We'll see about that," Garuza said jovially, then turned to leave with a laugh.  
  


* * *

  
Tomo burst into the attic room of the mansion, and ran to the center of the five circled Mole holes. "Well, I'm here!"  
  
"How Naive!" The Jamenshi stood between Tomo and the clock, as well as all the gathered treasure. "This is your LAAAST STAGEE!!" He cried out, and on that cue, green sparks and energy zapped across Shovellow and Tomo.  
  
"GAH!" They began to colapse to the floor.  
  
"I feel numb!" Shovellow yelped.  
  
"Hehehe," The Jamenshi laughed. "I snuck in a Numbing Bechat that even our own regular forces refuse to touch!"  
  
Tomo fell to their knees. "Damn... you...!"  
  
"You can't move with that poison flowing through you!" The Jamenshi taunted.   
  
At that moment, Harry staggered into the room, colasping at the doorway. "Tomo... No...!" He clutched at his chest... This was it. This was the end...!  
  
And Tomo started laughing.  
  
"Eh!?" The Jamenshi asked. "What's so funny? Are you resigning your defeat??"  
  
"Don't make me laugh," Tomo countered.   
  
“Huh!?” The Jamenshi demaned.  
  
“I’m representing the Kiramagers,” Tomo said, reaching a hand to tap their morpher as they struggled to their feet, “And that means...” Tomo laughed more. “My Team is out there fighting.”

* * *

  
Mahha raced through the air, Fiya launched a burst of water...  
  
 _“They’re risking their lives against your Jamenju!”_  
  
Skymage landed on the Jamenju’s head and tried to cut the head of the Hammer off of the mask with their propeller blades, only to get thrown off.  
  
Fiya and Mahha got kicked away.  
  
“We can’t be defeated!” Atsuya shouted.   
  


* * *

  
“And we’re not just protecting Earth C, we’re representing the City of Atlantis.” Within their helmet, sweating fiercely, Tomo Grinned. “We’re not just one team of six you can divide and conquer...”  
  


* * *

  
 _“Here,” Rose handed a card over to Tomo on that balcony. “Call it a gut feeling, but it’s a Mystic Spell Code I unlocked recently.”_  
  
 _Tomo frowned, taking the card. “What do I do with this? My Morpher doesn’t cast Magic like yours does.”_  
  
 _“You’re called the Kira_ -MAGE- _ers,” Rose smirked. “I think you’ll make it work.”_

* * *

“Just who the hell do you think we are?” Tomo asked as they tapped the button. _**_”KIRAMAGE!”_**_ And struck the wheel. A mystical mix of yellow and blue light surrounded them and Shovellow both- turning yellow brightly as the green goop boiled off of them both.

_“WAHAAH!?”_ The Jamenshi shouted. **“NO WAY! _IMPOSSIBLE!?”_**  
  
“Alright!” Tomo clenched their hand over their heart, glistening with light. “Let’s Sparkle, Shovellow! Full Power, Tension Maxed out!”  
  
Tomo grabbed out- grabbing Shovellow firmly.  
  
 ** _“HEAVE HO! LET'S BURN HOT!!”_** Shovellow shouted, and the GAME-START imagery flashed by-- only to be smashed as Tomo swung Shovellow through it and through the air, bringing it down sideways in a massive circle along the place where those mole heads should appear.  
  
And one did.  
  
And it got shattered on impact.  
  
“MY HEAD!” The Jamenshi cried out as sparks flared up from within his Mole head mask, and then he fell.  
  
“Wh...what just happened?” Shovellow asked.  
  
“The moles are connected to his head,” Tomo said with a laugh. “When I hit them earlier, he reacted. Destroying one? Oooh. I can’t imagine the pain.”  
  
The Jamenshi rolled along the ground, clutching at his head.  
  
“Now the game’s won,” Tomo said. “Time to turn back, Shovellow.”  
  
“Gotcha!” Shovellow split away from the sword as it returned to being a sword.  
  
“And speaking of time,” Tomo drew out their Kiramei Shot. “It's about Time I tried This out myself.”  
  
The sword connected to the blaster. **__”KIRAMEI BUSTER! KIRAKIRAMEI CHARGE!!”__**

[Tomo pointed the weapon at the Jamenshi,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei16-wam9.png) who was just now staggering back to his feet.  
  
“Oh...Seriously?!” He shouted as the energy blast was fired and slammed into him. _**_”CHECKMAGE!”_**_ “GAME OVER!!”  
  
And then he exploded.  
  


  
Hologram text fired off- _“YOU WIN!”_

And then the treasure pile exploded as several cards burried within it shot out of it and flew out into the yard outside, turning back into the people who’d been captured.  
  
The signage outside vanished, and the estate sale sign was righted.  
  
“Tomo,” Harry approached Tomo. “Nice job.”  
  
“The game’s cleared,” Tomo motioned at the grandfather clock that had remained untouched by everything. “Time to claim our prize and head out of here.”  
  
Harry paused. “Well... Do you think maybe it could keep for a bit?”  
  
“Uh...” Shovellow interjected before Tomo could answer. “No. Just go ahead and get it now. Please. It won’t take long.”

* * *

[Mahha backed away rapidly from the Jamenju attempting to flatten him](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei16-wam11.png). “We’re almost at our limits here! We should fall back for now!”  
  
“This Jamenju’s too strong!” Jetta cried out, swooshing overhead.  
  
“It’s too early to give up, Mahha, Jetta!” Fiya countered.  
  
“But what do we do?” Heliko asked, wobbling through the air.  
  
Nepeta looked out the window, and spotted something. “Everyone! Look! It’s one hell of an emotional sight!”  
  
Drijan roared into battle, driving down the street with Shovellow’s stone resting in the back slot.  
  
“Sorry to keep you all waiting!” Shovellow apologized.  
  
“It’s about time!” Atsuya called out. “You guys get the thing?”  
  
“Heck yes we got the thing,” Tomo said, leaning against their well, and gazing down into the small box at their feet, containing the gleaming Kanaema Stone within. “Then we came rushing here! Just as soon as Shovellow remembered her Mashin form.”  
  
“Eh!?” The other Kiramagers glanced over.

“It took us about a minute to pry it loose, and Shovellow was trying to turn back the entire time,” Harry said from within Drijan. “I might have just abandoned it then and there and came rushing here if that distraction hadn’t happened.”  
  
“Are you saying you’d have left the thing there and come here because we’re more important than that thing?!” Equius asked, shocked.  
  
“How reckless, but I’m sorta happy to hear that?” Harley said with a giggle.  
  
“Yes yes, forget my bad memory please,” Shovellow countered. “Focus on Harry’s emotional states, yes! Please!”  
  
“We’ll let you slide for now, Shovellow,” Tomo said. “But first!’ They slapped the wheel. “Harry! Throw us!”  
  
“Wait- THROW!?” Shovellow asked, shocked.  
  
“Yeah! THROW!” Harry said, throwing a lever.  
  
Drijan’s arm grabbed Shovellow and reared back- “WONDER THROW!” Harry shouted, and then Drijan Hurled Shovellow through the air at the Jamenshi.  
  
“MASHIIIIN!” Shovellow flipped through the air, transforming-  
  
“Take This!” Tomo shouted.  
  
-And Shovellow’s claw arm smashed fist first into the Jamenju’s head, knocking it backwards.  
  
They landed, and Shovellow turned towards the other Mashin. “Everyone! Combine now!”  
  
“MASHIN GATTAI!”  
  
Five became one, and the glistening, shining titan, _**_”KIRA-MAGE-IN!”_** _stood ready.  
  
“READY, KIRAMAGEIN!”

Drijan pulled up alongside them.

“Alright,” Harry started. “Let me kick things off!”  
  
Drijan rushed forwards, ramming the Jamenju’s feet. It hoppped left and right, trying to avoid the strikes.  
  
“Fine!” Harry swung around, and grabbed the Jamenju by the hammer head, then threw the thing with a spin towards the ground.  
  
...BOING!!!...  
  
Yes, the Jamenju bounced when it landed head first, and Hammer Basura went flying back at Drijan and Kiramagein- who took the strike.  
  
“It bounced!?” Fiya shouted- and then they were all sent sprawling aside as the Jamenju side-whacked them with the hammer.  
  
“Even Drijan won’t do it too?” Atsuya asked as Kiramagein landed.  
  
The Jamenju stomped towards the side-turned Drijan, menacing it.  
  
Harry glared upwards. “This wouldn’t be happening if I had a partner...!” He grimaced within his helmet. But then he remembered. He wasn’t alone. He had a partner, a machine as it was. And he had his team as well.  
  
He wasn’t alone. Infact, even within his own body he wasn’t alone. Garuza taunted him saying a Monstone, but...  
  
But there was more.  
  
There was a Kiramei Stone within his very body.  
  
“I...” Harry gripped his righ hand into a fist. **_“WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!”_** he punched heavensward- not even using the controlls intentionally.

But Drijan responded regardless- the Drill arm swung upwards, meeting the hammer at spinning speeds, and sendint the Jamenju staggering backwards.  
  
“That’s...” Harry lowered his fist, and gazed at it. He could feel his skin shifting beneath the suit- the Kiramei Stone within him reacting, bubbling away, ready to burst forth.  
  
He looked down to his chest as a bright blue light shone forth from within.  
  
“That’s right,” he said, twisting the controls to right Drijan. “I’m not alone. I don’t have to close up my heart and deal with things on my own. My problems aren’t just my own to deal with!” The camera cut up to his face. “I will change.” The camera cut to the other side. “I can change!” the camera cut in closer. “I want to change!”  
He brought his Morpher forwards, “Doctor Kae!”  
  
 _“Yes?”_ came the reply.  
  
“Drijan can become a Megazord too, right?” Harry asked.

* * *

“Yes, but without a Kiramei Stone that can synch with it, it can’t be done,” Gina answered. “We haven’t tested the others for compatibility yet. So-”  
  
 _“You don’t need to test it!”_ Harry interjected. _“I’m already compatible with it!”_  
  
“What are you even saying, Harry?” Gina asked, shaking her head. “That doesn’t make any-!” A glimmer of light, and understanding hit her. “Sense...? No, Harry, you can’t possibly be thinking what I think you’re thinking!”  
  


* * *

  
“I am!” Harry said. “That stone is right here inside Drijan already!” He gripped the controls, and gazed out at the Jamenju. “I can power Drijan Myself!” He then asked, “Doctor, what’s the Mystic Ranger’s Spell code for turning into their Zords?”  
  
Gina answered on instinct.  
  
“Thank you!” And then Harry shouted- _“Galwit Mysto Gryphior!!”_ The blue light from his chest shined bright, and Harry tapped the morph button once more. **__”TIME TO SHINE!”__**  
  
“WONDER-” [Harry pulled the Goggles down over his visor.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei16-gigadrill1.png) “CHANGE!”

 _ **_”YAHOO~! YAHOO~!”_**_  
  
Harry spun the wheel of his morpher, and leaped out of Drijan.  
  
“SHINING!” He shouted- and silver light erupted around him, forming into the the shape of a light blue Kiramei Stone. 

_**_”OH! EXCELLENT!”_** _the morpher cried out as Harry’s stone form landed next to Drijan.

“No Way!” Fiya shouted- Kiramagein sitting up.  
  
“He turned into a Kiramei Stone!?” Jetta shouted, astonished.  
  
“DRIJAN!” Harry shouted- flashing with light. “LET’S COMBINE!”  
  
Drijan’s arm spun down, and grabbed Harry’s stone form- lifting him up and then depositing him into the storage slot in the center of the soon to be chest.  
  
Said chest rotated around as the treads split and raised upwards, forming legs. The left on shifted down to become a proper arm, even as the right drill arm flipped over and touched the drill to the top corner of the exposed stone shoulder.   
  
A head popped up, and a visor piece folded out into place over that part, and Harry had become...  
  
“Complete! GIGANT DRILLER!”

**__”GIGANT DRILLER!”__ **

“Amazing!” Atsuya held up his right hand, “Harry plus-” His left hand came up, “Drijan--” he smashed them together. “Unh! They became a Megazord!”  
  
“Oh! Yeah!” Harry gazed at his newfound spinning drill hand. “This is perfect!”  
  


* * *

  
Gina just stared on. “How the hell did that even work!?”  
  


* * *

  
Garuza stared on from a rooftop, and he said absolutely nothing, astonished just the same as everyone else.

* * *

  
“Let’s see how good he is,” Fiya said as Kiramagein sat down, legs crossed.   
  
“Time for Gigant Drilling!” Harry shouted as he revved his three drills and spun his claw hand.  
  
The Jamenju got to its feet finally- and unleashed a barrage of laser blasts from its head.  
  
Harry- rather, [Gigant Driller marched boldy ahead through the explosions that ensued](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei16-gigadrill4.png).

“That’s not going to work!” Harry laughed.   
  
[They met, and he swung a drill punch forwards. “TAKE THAT!”](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei16-gigadrill5.png)

He swung back with the claw arm as the Jamenju tried to hit him, and grabbed the hammer by the head- then shoved it backwards.  
  
“AND AGAIN!” He punched with the drill- smashing the Jamenju in the chest.  
  
Harry funneled energy from him into the drill- spiraling energy around it. “Driller Knuckle!!” He then punched forwards, and swung with the punch.   
  
Sparks blew forth from the impacts along the Jamenju, and Harry briefly turned his back on them. “How’s that so far?”  
  
“Behind you!” Heliko warned as the Jamenju rushed them.  
  
Harry spun around quick as he could and caught the attack with his claw arm, lifted up, and then snagged the Jamenju by the foot with the tiny claw arm.  
  
The treads on the lges revved- “DRILLER SWING!” -and then Harry swung, and toss the Jamenju away- nearly hitting Kiramagein.  
  
“Woah! Watch it!” Mahha shouted as they quickly ducked to the side to avoid the attack.  
  
“Sorry! Time to finish this!” Harry said- then leaped into the air. **_“GIGANT CRUUUUUUSH!”_**

All three drills pointed down at the Jamenju as it tried to get up.  
  
And those drills came together against the Jamenju’s hammer head, punching through and tearing apart the metal-

  
  
**_KABOOOOOM!_ **

“WONDEEEEEEEEEER!” Harry shouted as he landed behind the exploding monster- which while it nearly overtook Kiramagein from where they still sat, they cheered regardless.  
  
“Nicely Done, Sir Harry!” Shovellow shouted. “Nicely done!”  
  
“Thank you!” Harry grabbed Shovellow’s hand with his claw arm, and they pulled Kiramagein to their feet. “Are you all okay?”

“We’re WONDER OKAY!” The Mashin and Kiramagers chimed in.

* * *

The Kiramagers sat in the Beltus, gazing at the stone on the table, surrounded by monitoring equipment. [Orange, Yin-Yang shaped, and very clawlike.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei17-destoria.png) It radiated power into the air, hinting at destructive ends.

“So, that’s it, right?” Harley asked. “We’ve got one of the stones, yeah?”  
  
“That we do,” Fiya said. “That’s... there’s no doubt. That’s a Kanaema Stone!”  
  
“Which means the myths are true,” Heliko said, awestruck.  
  
“Before that, though,” Tomo looked to Harry. “Nightmares, yeah?”  
  
Harry sighed. “Alright. Yeah. I... wasn’t sure of it before, but Garuza said something today when we fought.” He stood up, and opened his jacket to pull up his shirt over his chest- a dark purple patch of crystal resided in the center of his chest. “And now there’s this.”   
  
There was a long moment’s pause as he took a deep breath, and lowered his shirt down.   
  
Harry continued, “I think that Monstone we fought before jumped inside me. It... might have been attracted to that Jamental energy I absorbed off of Mabushiina when we moved Jouki’s mind out of his body.”  
  
The others stared on.   
  
“I think we’re in trouble,” Harry said simply. “And I don’t just mean me. I think... Princess Mabushiina might be worse off than she’s letting on too.”

* * *

Deep in the space between galaxies, in the Midway Station, Mabushiina opened a small box,[ revealing a white crystal crown with a blue gemstone inlaid on the front](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei16-mabumomcrown.png).

“Mother...” She whispered quietly. “I just witnessed a miracle today...” She paused. “The Silver Kiramager... he turned into a Kiramei stone...!”  
  


* * *

  
“If there’s anything we have to do with these Kanaema Stones,” Harry swallowed. “I think we need to do it before this curse spreads further inside us. If it can spread and rot us away...”  
  
“We’ll need the power of a mighty wish granter to cure such a thing,” Shovellow agreed.  
  
“And we’ll need to do it before either of you disappear to the darkness,” Esprez agreed.  
  
 ** _TO BE CONTINUED._**

* * *

[ _ **KIRAFUL! MIRACLE! KIRAMAGER!!!**_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzcI8KPeZd0)  
  
In the ranger class room...  
  
“You’re saying you told Harry I gave you a healing spell code and it let him turn into a Kiramei Stone!?” Rose asked Tomo, astonished.   
  
“Yep,” Tomo nodded.  
  
Rose then grinned. “I approve! Nice cross-compatability!”  
  
“I didn’t design the Morpher to Do that!” Gina Kae protested from her desk.  
  


* * *

  
 _ **NEXT KIRAMAGER!**_  
  
“Silver, Have a taste more of Jamental!” Garuza said. “The darkness is great!”  
  
“Please! Stop me!” Harry begged through grit teeth. “DEFEAT ME!”  
  
“Not happening, Harry!” Atsuya shouted.  
  
 _ **NEXT EPISODE: 17: Garuza's new soldier?! "Roar, JAMENTAL!" (Harry's Gone GRIMBARK!) (PART 2)**_  
  
“Sparkling? What a laugh.” Garuza taunted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BEHOLD: The single episode that caused me to fumble with this entire act's entire plot line because. HO-LEEEE. SHEEEEEEEEEEP.
> 
> I did not see that twist coming in Kiramager proper- and making THAT source footage work was... well. You saw my panic manifesting through this entire act so far. But here we are. The final resolution of all of that work tying together into a two part episode. 
> 
> Also, Oh, Hi, Destoria. The First Kanaema Stone is officially found. Things are about to get wild from here.
> 
> \---
> 
> We're now officially in end of act territory. I think we're likely... 3 or 4 chapters away from the end of this act. So that'll be fun. 
> 
> \---
> 
> Next chapter is INTERMISSION: The Three Rose Limit.
> 
> See you Monday.


	28. INTERMISSION: The Three Rose Limit.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose talks.
> 
> ...Which Rose? All the Roses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Mentions of capitalistic fascism.

**EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 16TH, 2012.**  
  
“So,” Tomo Strider started. “What did you want to talk about?”  
  
“Harry,” Rose Egbert answered. “And his apparently affliction regarding nightmares.”  
  
“What Nightmares?” Tomo asked, confused. “And actually, why are you telling me about this?”  
  
"It's concerning," Rose leaned against the railing of the balcony they were on. "I don't think it's my right to push things along, and Sally's apparently complained a lot about him waking up in a panic a lot ever since Halloween. I've asked her, and she says it's not a problem, and that Harry's handling it, but..." She gave Tomo a pained smile, and Tomo sympathized. "You probably should check up on him, as a teammate. It wouldn't do any of us any good if he's sleep deprived, especially after what happened to Atsuya."  
  
“I’ll see what I can do the next time I see him,” Tomo said, wincing at the memory of Atsuya fainting like that.  
  
“Please do,” Rose said, then... “Also. If I may be so bold.” She dug into her pocket and retrieved a card. “Here,” Rose handed it over to Tomo. “Call it a gut feeling, but it’s a Mystic Spell Code I unlocked recently. It’s a healing spell.”  
  
Tomo frowned, taking the card. “What do I do with this? My Morpher doesn’t cast Magic like yours does.”  
  
“You’re called the Kira _-MAGE-_ ers,” Rose smirked. “I think you’ll make it work.”  
  
Tomo rolled their eyes, captchaloguing the card in their Morpher, saying, “Sure, sure, pun away.”  
  
“In all seriousness,” Rose said. “I think Harry being plagued by nightmares is a bad omen for all of our teams. If Sally’s losing focus and sleep over her Brother, Overdrive is being affected, because she may complain to her teammates, say, Vrissy, who may in turn complain to June, being on Overdrive, meaning I, a Mystic, get affected by proxy of her complaining to me. Which means I pass things along to you, Harry’s teammate. It’s a never ending cycle of annoyance that needs to be resolved.”  
  
Tomo sighed. “I get the point. I’ll see what I can do... Just. Why me?”  
  
“Why not?” Rose shrugged. “Mainly I don’t feel I know Atsuya well enough to bring this to him, I couldn’t find Equius or Nepeta today, and Harley wasn’t free this evening.”  
  
“Where was Harley?” Tomo asked.  
  
“Where do you think?” Rose asked with a roll of her eyes.

* * *

“And that’s our clock reaching time,” Rose Lalonde clicked her pen. “I guess to finish things up before time fully runs out. Are you feeling better now?”  
  
Harley Sheppard nodded. “Yeah, I am. It was... good to get some of that off my chest.” She got up from her seat. “Thanks again for taking me last minute.”  
  
“I always have an opening for you, Harley,” Rose answered. “But it also helps that Gordon decided to cancel his session at the last minute.”  
  
“Why’d he do that?” Harley asked.  
  
“Same reason Silver Wing canceled, I’d imagine,” Rose sighed. “But that’s not your problem to deal with at the moment. If things change on that front, I’m sure you’ll be informed.”  
  
“Fair enough,” Harley nodded. “I’ll see you at dinner Wednesday?”  
  
“Oh, definitely,” Rose smiled. “Baring any unforeseen incidents or accidents, I suppose, Kanaya, Rhys, and I should be there.”  
  
“Alright then,” Harley smiled back. “See ya later, then!”  
  
“Tell my brother I said Hi,” Rose gave a small wave as Harley left her office.  
  
“I will!”   
  
And then once the door was closed, Rose went to work preparing documents, updating Harley’s personal mental health history record, and then prepared to make the video call across galactic lines.  
  
It technically wasn’t a video ‘call’ in the strictest sense. Not like Skype had been used in the old days. Nobody had used Skype since Earth had vanished, after all- the servers had utterly gone dead. Still, it had a similar sort of first impression back when the program had been first unveiled. It was more along the lines of creating secure chatroom links between people and only allowing those people to talk.   
  
Rose preferred to be early to these meetings, and once the program was connected, she continued to work on paperwork until her scheduled chat partner joined in.  
  
And join she did- her alternate self from Earth C only so much in the basis of soul and name, and not so much sharing an origin point in continuity of self.  
  
Rose Maryam-Lalonde joined in, and gave a small smile, “Hello.”  
  
“Hello,” Rose greeted her alt-self counterpart. “How are you doing this week?”  
  
“Fielding any number of complains from Jade and Roxy about all this Ranger stuff,” Rose answered her alt-self counterpart. “Vrissy’s been having a blast with it, so I’ll consider that a boon. She’d been getting testy the last few months before all of this began.”  
  
Rose nodded in understanding. “I understand how things can get at that age.”  
  
“Beyond that...” Rose considered it for a moment. “Well, Jane’s old estate went up on sale this last week. I’ve been dutifully ignoring anything about it since the Trial’s conclusion.”  
  
And her execution, that went unsaid. The amount of repulsive behaviors and flagrant intent to commit basic sentient life violations that Jane Crocker had thought was acceptable to spout in the courtroom had quickly bumped up what had seemed to be a sentencing to an isolated world to what the “Judgement Clock” had easily settled as a Just Death within a single tick of the clock.  
  
Rose herself found the idea of a godling’s death being judged by a ticking grandfather clock to be an interesting if existentially horrifying one, and while her other self seemed fine living under the arbitrary conditions of “Heroic and Just” that didn’t mean she herself was fine with anyone living under such rules...  
  
Still, Immortality needed to be contractually end-able in some regard, Rose supposed, especially a *gift given* immortality that this “God Tier” process seemed to involve.  
  
“Now, Rose,” Rose said, “remember what we’e said about ignoring things that involve your life personally.”  
  
“I know, I know!” Rose shook her head, and massaged at the bridge of her nose. “But all this shit that Jane pulled gives me a fucking headache every time I think about it. And it didn’t help that I was laid out with a nigh permanent migraine for probably the whole time I could have intervened against it and changed her life course to avoid it! It’s like blatant capitalistic fascism just gives me a fucking headache just to know it’s being perpetuated!”  
  
Rose resisted the urge to sigh, and made another note regarding the headaches in her mental file to touch on later.   
  
“But then there’s all this- I don’t know- the people who still support her after everything??” Rose continued on. “I just don’t know. How?? They can stand by her after all that shit. But atleast the amount of phone calls I’ve gotten the last few days have gone down majorly. I’d almost think they’d be losing steam if not for the fact I started seeing missing persons reports on the news for some of them.”  
  
Rose wonder what that was about. It was probably something to do with Gilgamesh’s little empire of monsters attacking the universe at large. She did have to give them credit for being ambitious, attacking a Galaxy at large like this and not just focusing on one planet at a time.  
  
Rose was now meandering along familiar roads, Rose noticed as the conversation turned towards her own failings to intercede and nudge other people along into stopping Jane Crocker’s blatant rise into horribleness.   
  
_‘And now here comes the ‘and why didn’t the retcons’,’_ Rose predicted before Rose said:  
  
“And why didn’t the Retcons start preventing THAT while they were at it?” Rose asked. “Dirk’s talked about how some greater cosmic force went and adjusted our old reality before bringing it into this new one. So why didn’t they just change things more?! Why let Jane become that horrible kind of person? It just doesn’t seem right!”  
  
Rose countered with an argument she’d been preparing since the last time this topic had come up: “Perhaps this mysterious other power didn’t see it as their right to make horrible people not horrible?”  
  
“You mean the idea that 'They' set Dirk and Gamzee up to fry each other with lightning for a mutually beneficial impact on the timeline?” Rose asked.  
  
“And as you yourself pointed out last week, it wasn’t out of Gamzee’s character to do that, and they both had fragments in your own version of Lord English,” Rose reminded her.  
  
“I... Yes, You’re right about that.” Rose sighed. “I’m just- do you really think that they’d not change how horrible a person could be if they had the chance?”  
  
“Sometimes, certain people are just unrepentant in their horrible behaviors right to the end,” Rose said, thinking of a certain Senator-turned-VP-turned-Traitor-to-the-world Kinsey. “Even if you give them every chance, and poke and prod and force them to turn good... sometimes people just won’t turn good because you made them, and infact, they might fight back against that change to be even worse.” She paused. “And sometimes good people get tricked into doing bad because they think they’ve got no other choice, and even if you offer them a chance at redemption, they may continue to act horribly anyways.”   
  
Poor Alex Vance. Her death still haunted Gordon’s nightmares from time to time. Seeing someone you knew get disintegrated because of a combination of their own and ones own actions was traumatic in so many ways.  
  
“I mean, you do have a point there,” Rose sighed. “This whole thing with Jane just. I wish I could have done something. I wish someone ELSE would have done something. It just feels like no matter what changes were made to our reality before merging it to yours, that some things just went the same way regardless.”  
  
“Some may call that a Universal Constant,” Rose mused. “Others might just say that history repeats itself.” She pursed her lips. “Personally, I just find that certain people just resist change so hard that they deny themselves the opportunity to do better time and time again, given the same starting circumstances.”  
  
“They say Insanity is the act of doing the same thing without changing insisting that you’ll get a different outcome.” Rose sighed.  
  
“That they do,” Rose agreed.  
  
Rose took a deep breath, and then exhaled- a favored breathing technique- before saying, “So. Let’s stop being insane and change subjects.”  
  
“If you’re not repressing things down,” Rose said. “Sure.”  
  
“I’m not.” Rose said. “I’ve actually been thinking a bit about what happened on Halloween and what it might mean.”  
  
“Please, do tell,” Rose said, always eager to hear some theorizing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah. This was just an excuse to have Rose talk to herself, as well as get a little meta.  
> \---  
> Next chapter: MSK: 01X17: Garuza's new soldier?! "Roar, JAMENTAL!" (Harry's Gone GRIMBARK!) (PART 2)
> 
> Which may actually go up Monday so that I can arrange the start of the next act to the FOLLOWING Monday... but we'll see how that works out. lol


	29. MSK: 01X17: Garuza's new soldier?! "Roar, JAMENTAL!" (Harry's Gone GRIMBARK!) (PART 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Monstone within Harry takes over thanks to Garuza. Enter gets caught out in the cold. Better pose like a team because Shit Just Got Real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW:  
> Involuntary Bodyjacking.  
> Garuza's a fucking bastard.  
> Implied suicidal thoughts.  
> Picture embedding.  
> Picture linkage.

**EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 19TH, 2012.**

"The Kanaema Stones are real..." Mabushiina stared at [the orange crystal on the table](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei17-destoria.png), breathless, almost in disbelief, but not quite.  
  
It was real.  
  
The power radiating from the stone alone was felt to all in the lounge room on the Beltus.  
  
"Kanaema Stone, Destoria," Esprez said quietly, floating near the stone. "Said to have the power of granting wishes centered around destruction."  
  
"And apparently twisting non-destruction based, normal wishes into monkeys paws," Tomo said, eyeing the stone.  
  
"And you think that gathering all four stones could let us purge this Jamental from our bodies?" Mabushiina asked.  
  
"It's the thing I'm hoping for," Harry said. "We'd try wishing it out of me as a trial run, but there's no telling how that'd turn out."  
  
"No telling indeed," Mabushiina agreed. "It may even react to my own family's curse in a bad way."  
  
"A family curse?" Nepeta asked.  
  
"Yes," Mabushiina nodded. "A long time ago, when I was little, my father confronted a witch who appeared out of a portal. She was defeated. but cursed my family to all die horrible deaths in her dying breath. My mother was struck first, she turned into a statue, and then seven days later, she crumbled into dust."  
  
Harry swallowed. "Just like that nightmare I've had."  
  
"My brother vanished when hiking in the mountains with his fiance, and neither were ever seen again. And as for my..." Mabushiina took a deep breath. "My Father died some years later, in the fall of Crystalia, as we know." She took a moment to compose herself. "I've been wondering if I would be struck down by it as well. Or if Garuza may ever be hit by it. Now I think I see how it will affect me." She looked down at her hands, "Cursed by Jamental."  
  
"Given Garuza's seeming immortality, he may have staved it off somehow, which might be prolonging your own reaction if that's the case," Fiya said. "Still, Princess, you should have told us about that curse sooner! None of us knew!"  
  
"And what could we do about it?" Mabushiina asked. "Search for the Kanaema Stones? Given they're surfacing now... well. Wishing on Destroya alone may be enough for the both of us, but it also might not be. The twisted wish might cause even more damage to everyone. We simply can't risk it if it will require the power of all four to purge this. I'd rather we save that united wish for something grander."  
  
"And what's that?" Atsuya asked.  
  
"Bringing Crystalia back to life in the present day," Mabushiina said. "Surely the four stones can accomplish that!"

* * *

_"When people Shine, Miracles are Born?" Garuza's voice interjected over the narration._   
  
_"Nonsense! These annoying rivals are on MY Hit List now! And their names are..."_   
  
[ **MASHIN SENTAI: KIRAMAGER** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffuDLZEVUnY)

* * *

A recording of Gigant Driller finishing off the Hammer Jamenju played.  
  
"Gigant Driller is Strong!" Kurantula said, astonished- an terrified. "This is terrible! How can you be sure sure it won't bother us again, Garuza?"   
  
"Tell me," Garuza started, "have you heard of Bururusu Lisu?"  
  
"...What's that?" Kurantula asked.  
  
"Only the most popular play in Crystalia," Garuza said. "A story about a hero who had an explosive stone embedded in his chest. I loved it when I was young."  
  
"Even you were cute once, eh?" Kurantula snickered.   
  
"An evil, cruel master torments the protagonist using that explosive stone," Garuza explained.   
  
"Is That why you liked it!?" Kurantula asked.  
  
"Don't worry," Garuza said. "Kiramei Silver will be that protagonist from now on, and that titan will not appear again... on their side."  
  


* * *

  
Alarms sounded, and the Kiramagers were dispatched to Earth C.  
  
Garuza was waiting for them on a rooftop.  
  
"Garuza! What are you doing here?" Atsuya demanded as the six Kiramagers arrived, not yet morphed up.  
  
"I've come to collect my due," Garuza answered, looking at Harry. He raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.  
  
Harry clutched at his chest as dark energy began bubbling out of it. "GAH!"  
  
"Harry!" The others froze to the spot, unsure as if they should move away or closer.  
  
"That spot where I hit you earlier," Garuza began, "has been brooding nicely.[ Unlocking that transformation of yours has given the Monstone inside of you room to breathe!](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei17-darkmon1.png)"

"Get away from me!" Harry warned his teammates, staggering away from them, ironically closer to Garuza. "I might hurt you!"  
  
"That's right!" Garuza laughed. "As we speak that Monstone is gathering its strength to full take over! Soon, Kiramei Silver will be gone entirely!"  
  
Harry roared as a projection of the charred black hued Monstone shot out of his chest, grew solid for a moment before collapsing back down onto the boy- causing Harry to fall to his knees, and his Morpher to change colors- [becoming purple and gold instead of silver and orange.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei17-darkmon2.png)

 _ **_"Jamental Changer"_**_ it intoned in Garuza's voice.  
  
"That Monstone...!" Equius realized.  
  
"I'll have to thank Enter for providing me with such a pawn!" Garuza said with a laugh as Harry stood upright, eyes glowing orange.  
  
"Harry!" Nepeta shouted. "No!"  
  
"Now, 'Harry,'" Garuza said. "It's time to transform."  
  
"Yes, King," Harry said flatly, and activated his morpher.   
  
_**_"Be Clad In Darkness,"_**_ Garuza's voice echoed out of the device once more, and a screwed up remix of the usual tune played out.   
  
"Jamental Change," Harry said flatly, and spun the wheel.  
  
Dark energy washed over him before condensing into the Kiramei Silver Suit- the only visible changes being the Morpher [and the pair of glowing eyes on the helmet visor](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei17-darkmon3.png). Garuza's voice laughed out of the Morpher as the transformation finished.

"Show them what you can do," Garuza ordered.  
  
"Understood," Kiramei Silver said, tapping his morpher. _"Jamental"_ it intoned.  
  
With a strike of the wheel, Kiramei Silver readied Shiny Breaker, leveling it at them as dark energy coursed around his body.  
  
Then, he fired off the attack-- "KIRAMEI CHANGE!" The rangers shouted- diving out of the way of the blast as it exploded against the rooftop.  
  
However, when they'd recovered... Harry and Garuza were nowhere to be seen.  
  
"Damn it!" Atsuya shouted. "After them!"  
  


* * *

  
From his hidden base on Earth C, Enter watched as Garuza lead the controlled Kiramei Silver around, wreaking havok across the land.  
  
"Oo La La," Enter smiled faintly. "Do you intend to lure me out with such a theft of my own plan, Garuza?" His smile turned to a scowl. "Challenge accepted."  
  
He teleported out, arriving in a parking garage as Harry and Garuza arrived there.  
  
"Enter," Garuza laughed. "I thought this might draw you out into the open after everything you've been pulling."  
  
"Garuza," Enter extended a hand, "return to me that Monstone, Si Vou Plait?"  
  
"Kiramei Stones, and Monstones, are MY territory, Enter," Garuza said, drawing his sword. "Not. Yours. Return to ME the Monstones you harvested from the grave."  
  
"I'm just making use of resources I have at my disposal," Enter said.   
  
"STOP IT!" That's when the Kiramagers showed up, morphed, and Atsuya shouting, "Don't make Harry fight for you!"  
  
"Oh, lovely, a distraction," Garuza said. "Harry? Be a dear and distract your friends." A snap of his finger summoned Bechats. "I'll deal with Enter."  
  
Kiramei Silver ran at the other Kiramagers, fighting them even as Enter summoned a horde of Uguts to counter the Bechats.  
  
"You're meddling with forces you don't understand," Enter said, morphing up with a cry of, "Let's Morphin'!"  
  
"I'd say the same of you!" Garuza said, and then the two locked blades.  
  
Silver slashed and kicked at the Kiramagers.  
  
The Bechats and Uguts brawled with each other.  
  
Then, Silver unleashed a shockwave attack that shook the entire building.  
  
Chunks of concrete went flying from the blast- and Enter swung his blade to send chunks flying away from him at Garuza.  
  
"You need to restrain your pet!" Enter said.   
  
"He's a honed killer who needs no restraint!" Garuza shouted.  
  
"We can't fight at full power against Harry!" Nepeta said, trying to grapple and restrain Silver's arm.   
  
She got bashed away.  
  
Tomo leaped in and fired off counter blasts to the shots Silver launched at Nepeta. "Well, he's always been too strong anyways!"  
  
Equius tackled Silver- "Now he's backed by a Monstone and Jamental! We have to do something!"  
  
Garuza roared- slashing a burst of Jamental through the room- which Enter dodged with a burst of Cheetah Speed.   
  
"Too Slow!" Enter darted across the field- dodging Garuza's attacks as he roared and slashed.  
  


* * *

  
Watching this from the flooded SGC ruins, Kurantula grabbed at his mask as if he were tugging at his hair. "Oh Man! Oh MAN! This is NOT GOOD!"  
  
Lothor and Necrolai burst into the room then- splashing through the water.

Lothor demanded to know- "What in Tarnation is Going On?!"

Kurantula swallowed nervously.

* * *

  
  
Equius and Harley were sent flying from a double kick Silver launched on them.  
  
"HARRY!" Atsuya tackled him next, hugging tight. "SNAP OUT OF IT!"  
  
Harry froze- and within his helmet, his eyes ceased to glow for the moment. Even his helmet returned to normal.  
  
"Sorry... Atsuya..." He said, fighting against the Monstone.   
  
"Harry?" Atsuya stood up to look his teammate in the eyes.  
  
"This is bad," Harry said. "I feel like I'm being puppeteered around..."   
  
"How do we break this?" Atsuya asked, placing his hands on Harry's shoulders.  
  
"I don't think we can," Harry said. "More importantly... Please fight for real and Defeat me!" He placed a hand on Atsuya's shoulder.   
  
"We can't!" Atsuya started.  
  
"Please!" Harry said, as the Kiramagers on the ground stared on. "Use the Kanaema Stones to save the Princess! You can get someone else to be Kiramei Silver!"  
  
"Don't go trying anything!" Garuza shouted- not paying attention to what was being said- and snapped his fingers.  
  
[Dark energy overcame Harry again,](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei17-darkmon4.png) and the evil Kiramei Silver's eyes lit up on the helmet again.   
  
Before Atsuya knew what was happening, Silver was kicking him away.   
  
And then an explosion of multicolored lightning erupted across the parking garage- Red, Blue, Yellow, Crimson, Navy, Emerald.  
  
Everyone went flying out into the streets outside- and I mean EVERYONE. Bechats, Uguts, Kiramagers, Garuza and Enter as well.  
  
They all landed on the ground, tumbling to a halt as Lothor and Necrolai exited the warehouse, flanked on all sides by the six evil Ninja Storm Rangers.  
  
"Well Well Well," Lothor snarled. "What do we have here?"  
  
"Ah, Zuit," Enter muttered.  
  
"Lothor!" Garuza started. "I have this under control!"  
  
"Really?" Necrolai started. "Cause from our perspective it looks like the Kiramagers were about to win their teammate back!"  
  
Silver groaned from the ground, unmoving- the light on his helmet missing, as if his eyes were closed, or he was back to normal? It was hard to tell.  
  
Atsuya pushed himself to his feet. "We don't have time to fight you today! So get lost!"  
  
"Well, now I just feel insulted," The Red Ninja said.   
  
"It's a good thing we're not here for you then," Lothor said, moving towards Enter, who was getting to his feet. "You made the wrong move, Enter! It's over! Come with us back to Lord Gilgamesh, and he might prove lenient!"  
  
"I find that incredibly hard to believe," Enter said, readying his sword.  
  
 _ **"This. Is. MY. BATTLE!**_ " Garuza shouted- jamental bursting forth and roaring through the area.  
  
"CRAP!" Atsuya tapped his sword twice- __"KIRAMEI SHILED!"__ he threw himself infront of the blast- tanking it for his teammates and then when the explosion proved too much for that simple sword- he was sent flying into a fire hydrant- smashing it apart and sending water gushing through the street in all directions.  
  
In the chaos of those two events, the Kiramagers found that they'd been left alone as everything settled. Lothor's forces were gone, Garuza and Harry were gone too, and Enter had escaped somewhere.  
  
Atsuya lay unconscious near the firehydrant's spewing remains.  
  
"Atsuya!" Nepeta ran over to check on him.  
  


* * *

Atsuya blinked as he found himself lying in a pure white void.  
  
"What the heck?" He sat up, finding that there was a Crystalian man sitting at a table and chairs.  
  
"Ah, well, this is embarrassing," the man said- and Atsuya immediately recognized him as king Oladdin.   
  
"You're the king!" Atsuya stared on- jumping to his feet and moving over towards him.  
  
"Indeed, I am," Oladdin said. "Welcome, briefly, to the Ascended plane."  
  
"Am I dead?" Atsuya asked.  
  
"No," Oladdin said. "I'm interfacing with your mind to talk to you. There's not much time, Atsuya. Your friends and my Daughter need you to wake up soon."  
  
"What do I need to do?" Atsuya asked. "Harry's been taken over by a Monstone, and Mabushiina...!"  
  
"Destoria is the key," Oladdin said. "The Kanaema Stones can be used individually, as well as together. However, the trick is to make a proper request, not a Wish! Destoria loathes wishes made upon it! Twists them to no end! But Requests? Detoria will heed by an earnest Request every time, even if it may need to rest afterwards."  
  
"So you're saying Destoria can save Harry and Mabushiina from the Jamental cursing them?" Atsuya asked.  
  
"Yes," Oladdin nodded. "But for the family curse, you Will need all four stones. And not just for healing that curse, or even for restoring Crystalia. You will NEED them. It's vitally important you find them and retrieve them before Gilgamesh's forces, or Enter himself, can get their hands on them. The Next Stone is already on its way to the present moment. You must hurry and defeat Enter's machinations before it arrives!"  
  
"Thank you, King," Atsuya bowed in thanks.  
  
"You're welcome," the king held out his hand in a peace sign. "Now, tell my Daughter this for me: Don't Hesitate, Just Sparkle!"  
  
The words resonated with Atsuya as he drifted away from that white void, and awoke again in the Infirmary onboard the Beltus, his team gathered around him.  
  
"I'm back," he said quietly, and their somber expressions turned bright as he sat up.  
  
"Atsuya!" Nepeta hugged him. "You're okay!"  
  
"What happened while I was out?" Atsuya asked, hugging her back with one arm.   
  
"Garuza and Harry have teamed up with Lothor and Necrolai," Equius answered. "They're fight-chasing Enter across the planet. Every time Enter teleports, they're right behind him."  
  
"Then we'll have to jump into the next fight when they teleport," Atsuya said. "I had a vision of King Oladdin."  
  


* * *

  
"Princess!" Atsuya said, entering the lounge room, and bee-lining for the Kanema Stone. "I had a vision of your father!"  
  
"What?" Mabushiina looked up in surprise as Atsuya was followed by the other four Kiramagers. "What kind of vision?"  
  
"He told me how to work the Kanaema Stones," Atsuya said, grabbing Destoria in hand. "And he told me to pass you this message. Don't Hesitate, Just Sparkle!"  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mabushiina asked, lamenting. "Father, this isn't the time for your riddles...!"  
  
"Kanaema Stone, Destoria!" Atsuya suddenly announced- and then the pressure in the room changed as the stone pulsed with orange light. "I request that you take the Jamental inside Princess Mabushiina, and combine it with the Jamental and Monstone inside of Harry Anderson when I ask of you to remove it during our next fight!"  
  
The Stone glowed brightly in Atsuya's hands- and Mabushiina suddenly gasped for breath as dark energy rolled out of her body and flowed into the Kanaema Stone, before fading away entirely.  
  
A dark spot resided in the place the dot normally would on a Yin-Yang symbol- the contained and extracted Jamental.  
  
"What...?" Mabushiina stared on, then took off her gloves. Blue crystal skin shone back at her. "I'm healed? But how does that...? That's impossible!"  
  
"What an emotional sight," Nepeta said, gazing on, awestruck.  
  
"The Kanaema Stones are sentient too, aren't they?" Harley asked, rhetorically.  
  
"Looks like," Tomo nodded.  
  
"Let's go," Atsuya said, turning towards his teammates. "We have a way to save Harry now."  
  


* * *

  
Enter snarled as he limped into a waterlogged warehouse.  
  
"Zuit, Zuit, ZUIT!" He swore. "How the hell are they tracking me?" He was running low on Uguts again. He shouldn't have launched into this so soon after the whole endeavor with Iyo... Iyo who he still had no idea where she was.  
  
"Darkness is wonderful, isn't it?" Garuza asked, approaching with Harry at his side. Lothor and Necrolai followed, the Ninja Rangers nowhere to be seen.  
  
"Garuza," Enter snarled. "It's time we ended this once and for all."  
  
"I couldn't agree more," Garuza said, looking to Harry. "Now, Harry, finish him."  
  
And then- _**PVVVM SHING!-**_ The five Kiramagers beamed in.  
  
"Oh come on," Lothor said, annoyed. "They seriously want to come back for more?"  
  
"This time they'll learn their lesson," Necrolai said.  
  
"Finish them first," Garuza ordered. But Harry resisted.  
  
"No." He said. "I won't...!"  
  
"You don't have a choice in the matter," Garuza said.  
  
"Harry won't be your pawn!" Atsuya said. "We'll free him now!"   
  
"Kiramei Red," Garuza sneered, voice raising in anger. "You're a true genius at pissing me off!"  
  
"Leave us be, Kiramagers," Enter warned. "This battle doesn't concern you any more."  
  
"That's where you're wrong," Atsuya said as the others readied their weapons. "This battle concerns every single one of us!"  
  
"Fine then," Garuza said.  
  
And thus the chaotic melee began- The Kiramagers sans Atsuya suddenly ganged up on Garuza, meanwhile Lothor and Necrolai focused on Enter.  
  
"What kind of strategy is this!?" Garuza asked as he was briefly restrained by the Kiramagers own sheer stubborness, watching as Atsuya charged Harry, something familiar in his hand.  
  
"What are you doing, Atsuya!?" Harry asked as they brawled, Atsuya ducking and weaving under his attacks. "Atsuyaaa! You have to Defeat me!!" He pushed Atsuya down along the way- "I'm going to lose myself entirely soon! PLEASE!"  
  
"Stop being so Dramatic!" Atsuya shouted back.

[The Kiramagers dodged around Garuza's jamental strikes](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei17-darkmon5.png); meanwhile Enter zipped around the warehouse- fighting against Necrolai and Lothor with furious intent.

* * *

Watching from the SGC, Kurantula threw popcorn into his mouth. "I'm on the edge of my seat with anticipation! This is better than my Mom's favorite Soap Operas!"  
  


* * *

  
Garuza swung a strike that hit Nepeta, and Harry winced at her shout. "Atsuya, Please! END ME!" He restrained the Monstone long enough to put his hands to his sides.  
  
"NOW!" Atsuya leaped forwards with Destoria in hand, restraining Harry from behind.  
  
Harry spotted the stone- "Wait- Don't tell me you're going to...!"  
  
"Kanema Stone Destoria!" Atsuya shouted- "Please Finish my Request NOW!!" He placed it to Harry's chest, and a burst of orange light flowed forth. "REMOVE THE MONSTONE FROM HARRY'S BODY AND DESTROY IT!"

A blinding burst of orange light shifted to yellow-white as energy radiated from the stone, forcing the entire fight to stall to a halt.

"What the!?" Garuza stared on- a[nd then a shockwave of energy sent him flying away from the Kiramagers.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei17-darkmon7.png)  
  
The same could be said for Enter and Lothor- flung away into the walls, or into debris.  
  
Necrolai couldn't say the same, however- shrieking in pain as her vampyric nature reacted badly to the pure light radiating outwards- her body caught aflame and burst into an ash pile moments later- leaving only a glistening crystaline card laying in the center.

"STOOOOOONE!" And then the Monstone was ejected from Harry's body, staggering forwards and then- _ **CRACK- CRACK SNAAAAP- KABOOOM!**_  
  
It exploded into black crystal shards across the room.  
  
Harry fell to his knees and transformed back to normal. Atsuya likewise fell to his butt and turned back, looking to Destoria in hand as its orange hue was overtaken by the black dot and turned the whole thing dim and seemingly lifeless.  
  
"Rest well," Atsuya smiled. "You deserve it."  
  
Harry gazed on at the sight. "What... what did you just do?"  
  
The other Kiramagers demorphed.  
  
"He used the wish...!" Harley stared on.  
  
"Not a wish," Atsuya said. "A Request. Destoria doesn't like wishes. It twists them. But Requests... It'll handle a request just fine."  
  
"My My My!" Enter said suddenly, limping away from a wall, everyone turned towards him- seeing he was demorphed as well. "I did not see that coming." He smiled. "I'll have to research this later." He teleported away.  
  
"NO!" Lothor shouted, reaching out after the man. "Damn you, Rangers!" He snarled, grabbing the card out of Necrolai's Ash Pile. "I don't know how you got your hands on that Relic of Gilgamesh's... but...!"  
  
"But nothing!" Garuza shouted- getting to his feet as well. "That stone... A Kanaema Stone!? That's what your mystical artifact was this entire time!? Gilgamesh had his hands on the four most powerful wish granting devices in Crystalia's History in his possession the entire time!?!?" He gazed at the Kiramagers. "And here I thought you lot were just looking for Kiramei Stones the entire time. But that's far from a worthless treasure... the Kanaema Stones...!" He growled. "How did you all learn of the Rules behind their functioning!?"  
  
"The King told me," Atsuya said simply. "In a dream."  
  
Garuza stared for a moment. Then he started to laugh, unhinged.  
  
"I'm..." Lothor backed away. "Going to take that as my cue to leave." And he teleported away.  
  
"Alright," Tomo said. "Let's finish this fight and deal with Garuza."   
  
"Let's," Harry agreed. "I've got an axe to grind."  
  
"Let's go, everyone!" Atsuya called out.  
  
The Kiramagers lined up, and tapped their morphers. Garuza didn't care. He kept laughing- dark energy radiating off of him.

 _ **_"SPARKLE!"/"KIRAMEI GO!"_**_  
  
"KIRAMEI CHANGE!" The spun the morphers wheels, and transformed as six in a flash of light.  
  
"MASHIN SENTAI!" Atsuya called out. "KIRAMAGER!"

_**_"OH SHINING!"_**_ The changers called out- **__"LET'S SPARKLE!"__**

"Hahah!" Garuza pointed his sword at them. "You fools! You utter fools!"  
  
"Take this!" Harry shouted, tapping Shiny Breaker. _**_"ONE BEAM CHARGE! GLAD TO DO IT!"_**_  
  
 ** __"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"__ **The Kiramagers tapped their swords, blasters, and _**_"KIRAKIRAMEI CHARGE!"_**_ The Kiramei Buster as well.

"Kiramei Rush Stream!" The six of them intoned, readying their team attack- and then firing off six energy blasts that ran off the ramp created by Harry's finisher- leaping into the air, and combining together into the drill beam blast, growing in size and shape and color- becoming a massive orb of rainbow colored doom.

Garuza tried to block it, but- ** __"CHECKMAGE!"__ **-Everything around him became explosions. **__"ONE JOB DONE!"__**

The Kiramagers didn't even turn their backs to the explosion as it happened this time.  
  
Garuza's helmet hit the ground, and the Crystalian stumbled away from the diminishing blast, gripping at his head.  
  
"Damn you..." He hissed. "In that case...!" He gazed at the Monstone remains as dark Jamental flowed around him.  
  
He threw the blast at the shattered crystals, past the Kiramagers, and transformed the shattered crystals, uniting them together and making them grow in size as they flew out of the warehouse into the city outside.  
  
"He poured Jamental and Darkness Energy into it!" Equius realized as the Monstone reformed at Giant Size, and they saw it there, having rushed outside.  
  
"Let's get big too," Atsuya said, tapping his Morpher. "Mashins!"  
  
"MASHIIN!" The Mashin rocketed forwards, decaptchaloging.   
  
Harry did the same, tapping his morpher. __"MASHIN DRIJAN!"__  
  
"Come, my steel partner!" Harry spun his Morpher wheel, then tapped it again, and lowered his goggles.  
  
 _ **_"TIME TO SHINE! YAHOO~!"_**_  
  
"WONDER CHANGE!"  
  
Harry spun the wheel again, and leaped into the air as Drijan emerged from a teleport.  
  
 _ **_"OH EXCELLENT!"_**_  
  
"MASHIN GATTAI!" The Mashin began to combine together.  
  
 ** __"MASHIN GATTAI!"__**  
  
"Mashin Henkei!" Harry called out- Drijan grabbing his stone form, and loading him in, beginning the transformation process.  
  
 _ **_"MASHIN HENKEI!"_**_  
  
"READY! GIGANT DRILLER!"  
  
 _ **_"GIGANT DRILLER!"_**_  
  
"READY! KIRAMAGEIN!"  
  
 _ **_"KIRA-MAGE-IN!"_**_

[Both Megazords smashed at the Monstrous Monstone](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei17-teamwork5.png), but didn't even scratch it.  
  
"We're not even making a dent!" Jetta shouted.  
  
The Monstone shoved them away as a train whistle roared.  
  
"BURN BLACKER!" Garuza shouted- making Jouki's first reappearance since it had been taken from him.   
  
Kiramagein and Gigant Driller were blasted, stumbling backwards.  
  
"Do we have a plan for this, Atsuya?" Fiya asked.  
  
"To break a monstone..." Atsuya tapped at his head... then... Sparkle, Shine- "EUREKAING!!"  
  
He tapped his morpher- "C'mon, Express!"  
  
Esprez and Drybe appeared, and combined- "I don't like this," Esprez said as Mashin Express formed. "But I'll follow your lead, Atsuya!"  
  
"Not you again!" Garuza glared upwards.  
  
 _ **_"MASHIN GATTAI!"_**_ Express's light beams overcame Jouki's shell, and took it over faster than any time before.  
  
"Damn it!" Garuza swore as he lost controll just as easily as he feared he would. But he fought back against it never the less.  
  
"Ready, GHOST EXPRESS!" Atsuya shouted regardless- backing the mecha up alongside Kiramagein and Gigant Driller.

The three mecha posed dramatically before the Monstone.  
  
"Now!" Atsuya shouted, then rocketed Ghost Express forwards- punching the Monstone in the face and blowing by, before suddenly standing in place.  
  
"I won't let you destroy that stone again!" Garuza shouted, fighting against the controlls. _**"OR TAKE MY JOUKI!"**_  
  
Ghost Express jerked around- but wasn't getting anywhere.  
  
"Now!" Atsuya shouted. "While we hold back Garuza, Harry, combine with Shovellow, Mazellen, and Duston!"  
  
Shovellow shouted- "I can feel the Image! LET'S DO THIS, TOMO!"  
  
Shovellow disconnected from Kiramagein.  
  
"Let's go, Duston, Mazellen!" Tomo spun their morpher.  
  
"Let's go, Dus!" Duston transformed.  
  
"Let'z do thiz!" Mazellen transformed.

["GIGANT DRILLER!" Harry shouted as the three Mashin combined. "GIGA-SIZED SPECIAL!"](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei17-teamwork7.png)  
  
"Let's show that Monstone whos boss, Harry," Tomo said, glancing backwards towards the crystal form of their teammate.  
  
"Let's go!" Harry shouted, marching ahead. "Time for Gigant Drilling!"  
  
He punched forwards at the Monstone, and Shovellow slashed down in the same breath.  
  
"PETRIFIZED!!" Mazellen fired off several blasts of concrete at the Monstone, coating its top layers in hardening rock that was much softer than the Monstone Crystal itself.  
  
"Suck On This!" Duston pulled in, trying to absorb the Monstone for a moment, it fought, turning tis back on them- and Driller smashed forwards with another punch, followed by a drilling kick to the rear.

["Time for the Shovellow Squad Finish!" Shovellow shouted.](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei17-teamwork8.png)  
  
"Farewell, my Fateful Monstone!" Harry bid it farewell, before raising his arms. "GIGANT CRUSH SPECIAL!" he revved to speed, and spun at the waist, charging forwards towards the Monstone.  
  
Shovellow grabbed on tight, whirrling the Monstone along at speed.   
  
"HARDENINGZ!" Mazellen covered the Monstone in more concrete- then Driller's arm punched through it all, shattering those bits- which Duston then sucked up as Shovellow let go and the Monstone went flying into the distance... And exploded.

"WONDER VICTORY!" Harry shouted.

"DAMN YOU!" Garuza shouted- immediately managing to overpower Esprez and breaking Ghost Express back apart into the two mashin. "I'll paint it all in Darkness!" He shouted as Express landed nearby. "EVERYTHING!"  
  
And then, Jouki rode off into the distance, teleporting out.

* * *

Enter laughed to himself as he entered his lab, and began tapping at controls. "Damn it all. To think they'd stumble on something as powerful as that!" He laughed. "Shame I've got something better."  
  
He looked upwards as vault after vault containing prototype megazords, ready to launch, lit up along the walls. "It's time to go now, my army of unstoppable army!" He laughed, and then smashed a button.  
  
They began teleporting moments later. One after the other.  
  


* * *

  
Lothor plugged the card into the back of a Bechat mask, and slammed it onto the face of a hapless Bechat- [transforming the poor thing into a new host for Necrolai's spirit](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/kiramei17-necrolai2.png).

 ** _"THOSE BRATS!"_** She shouted upon the transformation completion. She looked nothing like she had before, but that's what she got for choosing the host she'd used before. "Bastard Children! How dare they! _HOW DARE THEY! **DO THEY EVEN KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO CUSTOMIZE MY BODY LIKE THAT THE FIRST TIME!?!"**_  
  
"Calm down, Necrolai!" Lothor shouted at her. "You're alive, and that's what counts!"  
  
"OOOOH! If I get my hands on those children, I'll--!" Necrolai stopped as an alarm sounded.  
  
And then another.  
  
And then a few more for extra alarmy-oomph..  
  
"What's that?" Necrolai asked, suddenly very afraid. "Please tell me that's not what I think it is."  
  
Lothor brought up a screen from his personal computing device, and swore.  
  
"Enter just launched an all out assault across the universe! Including--" The world shook around them.   
  
Both villains gazed upwards, even as Lothor finished his sentence.  
  
"Our Earth."  
  
The camera panned upwards, and outwards, and revealed a large Megazord, slender in apperance, with a primarily orange color scheme with hints of white, and it bore a bright red monoeye on its head.  
  
The thing roared as glimmering wings of translucent rainbow energy spread from its back.  
  
In the distance, it could be seen that it was far from the only one targeting this world specifically. Because there were more, several, several more just like it of varrying colors.  
  


* * *

  
"Those Power Rangers won't know what hit them!" Enter grinned, and then turned his back to let the automated process finish. "Go now, my Invincible Army of Evangelions, and bring the Universe to its knees!"  
  


* * *

  
The Kiramagers had just broke their Megazords back down into their individual Mashin when a roar of teleportation sounded above them.  
  
"What now?" Harley gazed upwards from within Mahha, and she saw...  
  
A massive red beast with white, black, and orange accents flying around in the heavens above them on rockets mounted to its shoulders.  
  
Four green eyes gazed down at them as it readied a massive looking sniper weapon.  
  
"EVERYONE DODGE!" Fiya shouted- and the Mashins rocketed forwards before energy blasts rained down onto the city from the heavens.  
  


* * *

  
Up on the Beltus, Gina Kae swore as reports came in from across the three Galaxies.   
  
Enter's Gambit had just begun in earnest.  
  


* * *

  
**TO BE CONTINUED.**

* * *

[_**KIRAFUL! MIRACLE! KIRAMAGER!!!**_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzcI8KPeZd0)  
  
"Gigant Driller and the Shovellow Squad Combine!" Shovellow declared.  
  
"It's like the armor from Bururusu Lisu," Mabushiina observed.  
  
"What's that?" Gina asked.  
  
"It's- Nothing!" Mabushiina absconded.  
  
"HEY!" Gina shouted. "Get back here!"  
  


* * *

  
 **NEXT STARGATE ATLANTIS:**  
  
"Enter's Menacing Evangelions are Rampaging Across the Universe!" Keiko said.  
  
"It's all hands on Deck!" Jade Jackson shouted.  
  
"We have to get that thing out of the sky!" Heliko roared.

"Next time, Stargate Atlantis Episode 16!" Atsuya called out. "End of Act 8 Act 2!"  
  
"Enter's Gamble," Enter said. "Part One."  
  
"Don't Miss it!" The Kiramei Stones called out.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: MINISODE: Silver and Freeman.  
> Coming later this afternoon. ^^;  
> \---
> 
> HOO. That was a sequence of events, alright. Day's not over yet for these kids either. 
> 
> Yeah. Enter went *big* with his plans here. Attacking the WHOOOOLE UNIVERSE at once? Dude's got big ambitious goals.
> 
> Thy name art Escalation.
> 
> \---
> 
> Garuza's whole canonical evil plot here is crudely shoved into the whole "battle Enter" subplot, and it's as chaotic of a mess as anything could be. Remember how I said one of the themes of this act was PANIC? 
> 
> Yeah. You can see how everything's scrambling about in panic now. Holy sheeeeep. This whole sequence was intense to write, and the ride doesn't stop here.


	30. MINISODE: Silver and Freeman.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (second of 2 chapters today. )  
> This is what Gordon and Silver were canceling their last therapy sessions over.

**EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 16TH, 2012.**  
  
"That's a lot of extra-dimensional-riftage on Earth C," Gordon Freeman said, gazing at the data results Silver Wing had brought to him.  
  
[It's a rapid fire amount of teleportation back and forth between these locations,] Silver Wing said. [It's different from the dimensional varriances we were keeping an eye on for Gilgamesh's monster teleports.]  
  
"So... Enter?" Gordon offered.  
  
[Likely,] Silver nodded.  
  
"What the hell is he up to?" Gordon asked. "Because if I didn't know any better I'd say he was planning some kind of mass scale teleportation event across who knows how many planets."  
  
[That's exactly what I was concerned over,] Silver said. [But what kind of assault would require that many mass teleports?]  
  
Gordon grimaced. "Something tells me we're not going to like it when we find out."  
  
[No, I'd imagine we won't.]  
  
And indeed, not three days later, they did not like finding out just what it was that Enter was doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Friday's chapter: The Last chapter of the Act: SGA:06X16: Enter's Gamble (Part 1)


	31. SGA:06X16: Enter's Gamble (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> End of Act 8 Act 2.  
> \---  
> Part 1. Enter's forces of Evangelion robots swarm the Universe, but to what end?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys get this end of act chapter early because I need a distraction and you need a distraction and EVERYONE needs a distraction.  
> \---  
> CW:  
> Surprise attacks.  
> Kidnapping.  
> Nightmare fuel.  
> LOTS of Battle without much breathing room.

**EARTH DATE: NOVEMBER 19TH, 2012.**  
  
Shots rained down from the heavens- blasting into the city streets of Earth C as the Mashin regrouped beneath a bridge.  
  
"Well," Fiya began simply. "Today sucks."  
  
"This is not good," Express said, eyeing the red mecha in the sky blasting away at them with a sniper rifle.  
  
"That thing's horribly overpowered!" Heliko whined. "We'll never get into the air close enough to hit it!"  
  
"I wanna zhoot it," Mazellen said simply. "My zenzibilitiez az a zniper are offended!"  
  
"I could try pulling it down?" Duston offered. "But that might not work out so well, Dus."  
  
Down on the ground, below the Mashins, the Kiramagers gathered around a dazed Jetta- who'd taken a scorching blast to the wings and was muttering inconsistent things.  
  
"He looks like he just needs a polish," Mahha said, floating over the gemstone held in Equius' arms. "He should be fine after that."  
  
"That's a relief," Equius sighed in, well, relief.  
  
"Still wouldn't want to take a hit like that ourselves," Shovellow said, hovering over Tomo's shoulder.  
  
"No, we wouldn't," Tomo gazed upwards at the sky- wincing as the monstrous Megazord up there in the heavens roared.  
  
More laser blasts pelted the streets a moment later. One striking the bridge they were hiding under, making it rattle.  
  
Harry ran a hand through his hair as he took a deep breath. "We'll have to figure something out. Drijan's armor might be able to tank those blasts, but I don't wanna get hit myself if it gets lucky."  
  
"I'm thinking," Atsuya started, "We'll have to use Drijan to get out of its line of sight. Dig a tunnel, and eveyone drives underground."  
  
"But that monster'll keep firing at us," Nepeta said.  
  
"Or if we're lucky," Atsuya started, "it'll chase us underground. If we can find a small cavern down there... get it in some tight quarters..."  
  
"That might work," Harley nodded.   
  
"Everyone!" Atsuya called up to the still actively full size Mashin. "Shrink down! We're taking Drijan underground!"  
  
"Roger that!" Fiya said, transforming back to gemstone form and shrinking down. The others followed suit a moment later.  
  
Everyone climbed into Drijan's cockpit, save for Harry, who stood, morphed inside the carrying bed in Drijan's center.   
  
"Alright," he said, "Let's make this snappy." He pulled down his goggles over his helmet visor and then activated his Morpher. **__"IT'S TIME TO SHINE!"__** "Wonder Change." He spun the wheel and transformed into his Kiramei Stone form directly within Drijan's awaiting nesting spot.  
  
 _ **_"OH EXCELLENT!"_**_  
  
Instead of powering the transformation immediately, he declared- "Alright, everyone, we're going underground!" He shifted Drijan's positioning under the bridge and dove into the dirt, making as much noise as possible.  
  
The crimson, four eyed Megazord in the heavens saw this, and snarled- its maw opening to expose fanged teeth.  
  
"Stoneee..." It hissed, and then took off down towards the tunnel.

* * *

[ **_o < \--- STARGATE: ATLANTIS --- >o_ ** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0K2bRdtGlg)

* * *

ToQOh arrived in the middle of one of Diaspora's forests.  
  
"Where the heck is that giant megazord?" Casey asked, gazing about.  
  
"Yeah, how does a giant yellow-gold thing with death claws even vanish anyways?" Kaylee asked.  
  
"Yellow Gold thing with death claws?" Kagura suddenly asked- growing tense.  
  
A shadow passed over head.  
  
ToQOh looked upwards- and saw a flying thing gathering energy into the shape of a miniature sun within its claws.  
  
"W-" Kagura stuttered as she recognized the shape- "War-!"  
  
ToQOh dodged before the monster of a Megazord unleashed an explosive blast upon the spot which they stood thanks to Kagura's reflexes.  
  
 ** _"WARGREYMON'S GONNA EAT MEEEEE!"_** Kagura cried out as she had ToQOh run away from the explosion that followed.  
  
"Wah-!? Kagura!?" Tokoha asked, startled. "WarGreymon isn't real!"  
  
"It is a WarGreymon type Megazord though!" Kagura countered, not even gazing backwards as the enemy Megazord landed on the ground that had been exploded, roaring. "And that's real enough for me!!!"  
  


* * *

  
"What's going on?" John Sheppard asked, barging into the Atlantis Control room at speed.  
  
"We've got enemy megazord teleportations across the Galaxy, using the frequency wavelengths Silver and Gordon reported," Tyzias answered, scowling. "Enter decided to unleash a bunch of undefeatable monsters on us, is what he did."  
  
"Undefeatable seems a bit of a stretch for a fight that just started," John said.   
  
"For the ones that let themselves get into close quarters combat with our Rangers, they're pretty much 'undefeatable'!" Tyzias snapped.  
  
"How?" John asked for clarification.  
  
"Well, let's see, the Samurai team unleashed their finisher three times in a row and the damned thing still hasn't gone down," Tyzias reported. "Overdrive's primary finisher likewise has bounced off of their enemy and they're trying various combinations of their Auxiliary Zords to try and break through its defenses. And the Mystics are currently running a dogfight over Catherine right now, and every time they land a blow the thing just cheats and throws up a fucking shield wall like what we saw with the eyeball monster hurling blasts at us during the last offensive!"  
  
"Right," John nodded. "I think I know what we need to do then."  
  
"And what's that?!" Tyzias asked.  
  
John smirked.  
  


* * *

  
"BURN BLACKER!" Garuza roared- and Jouki unleashed a gout of explosive flames upon the horde of Evangelions attacking Gilgamesh's Earth.  
  
While this was happening, down below, Lothor made a decision. "Rangers! Go bring Enter in to heel NOW!"

"Yes, Sir!" The suited up Ninjas turned away, but Ridely, unsuited for the moment, remained behind.

"Lothor, Sir," She began, "Are you sure I should be going? If the Rangers call on me to become Overdrive's Mercury Ranger-"  
  
"We don't have time to waste!" Lothor said. "Forget that plan for now! _What we need is to squash Enter and take him in! **NOW!** "_  
  
"Alright," Ridley nodded, then ran off, morphing with a call of "Ninja Storm, Ranger Form!"  
  
Lothor snarled as the world shook around him. "Damned Computer-man. Just Had to turncoat and run after the explosion. Could've made it so much easier on all of us if he'd just stayed in line and apologized, but No! He had to go ROGUE! What is even WORTH it to him to be doing all of this!?"  
  


* * *

  
Enter smirked as he watched data flow across the universe back to him. "Annnnnd... With all of that active data pinging mapped to the Evangelion's Territory Fields... I think I've got a lock on where you are, Iyo-chan." He tapped his laptop's keyboard, and it began to narrow down on a certain fixed point in the universe--  
  
A teleportation sounded off behind him, and Enter froze.  
  
"Well." He said quietly, closing his laptop and turning around. "I suppose you back traced my teleportations then?"  
  
The Ninja Storm Rangers stood together, all six of them.  
  
"Awh, what gave it away?" The fake Yellow Ranger asked.   
  
"It's over Enter," The Red Ranger said. "Surrender now, call off your robots, and we'll go quietly to Lord Gilgamesh."  
  
"Or," The Blue Ranger said, clearly with Ridley's voice now that we've met her before and she wasn't using any kind of voice disguise. "You could do this the hard way and we'll take you in with broken limbs."  
  
Enter laughed. "Even if I did Surrender, I couldn't comply in shutting down the Evangelions," he explained. "Non non non, I made them self sufficent. The only way to end them is to destroy their cores."  
  
"I see," Ridley said. "So are you surrendering, or not? Personally, I'm hoping you do. It'd be so much easier for all of us, including yourself."  
  
Enter Tsk'd, and simply replied- "Let's Morphin'."

* * *

"BUSTER-KING MEGAZORD: READY!"  
  
The Go-Busters appeared in a random city to defend it- with a portal opening behind them to unleash the Gold and Silver zords a moment later.  
  
"This feels unnervingly familiar," Beet J Stag said, within the cockpit of BC-04.   
  
Before them stood something less of an Evangelion's lanky design and more of the usual Megazords Enter threw their way. Except this robot before them was equipped with no discernible traits that made it anything specific. It was just plain. Unassuming.  
  
It felt like a trap.  
  
"It feels like a trap," Mei said simply, within the cockpit of SJ-05.  
  
"Trap or not," Ryujii said within GT-02's cockpit onboard the megazord. "We need to defeat it."  
  
"Let's go straight for the finisher," Hiromu decided, and flipepd a switch in CB-01's overhead console.   
  
"Charging sword!" Youko reported, glancing at a progress screen in RH-03's side panels.   
  
**_"DIMENSION CRASH!"_**  
  


* * *

  
Enter leaped about his lair at speed while Uguts harassed the Ninja Rangers.  
  
"Time to enact my failsafe plan," Enter said, slashing a card through a reader. "Metavirus- To Amplify- Install!"  
  
The three robots he'd created were energized with Monstones and Metaviruses, and then teleported away before they were finished transforming.   
  
Enter smirked beneath his helmet, and then dodged under the Navy Ranger's staff slashes- the console Enter had just used was destroyed, but it had served its purpose. "Too Slow!" He taunted.  
  
Enter zipped across the room out of their line of sight and entered his private storage closet. He punched an emergency red button, and the purple hued frame of Escape's future backup was teleported away.   
  
Enter's own backup was about to teleport away when an energy blast shot into the room and smashed into the transporter- disabling it ebfore the robot frame could be put elsewhere.  
  
Enter swore, and dashed out of the room through the entrance while the Crimson Ranger tried to enter the room, blaster in hand.  
  
They collided, and went tumbling out into the hallways.  
  


* * *

  
The Dimension Crash washed over the Enemy Megazord without much effect- and a projection hologram emerged.  
  
 _"Ca Va, Go Busters?"_ Enter smirked. _"This Pre-recorded message is to play incase you tried to attack me with any of your usual attacks. I've... prepared this Megazord especially for you lot. Your Zords here are much the same as they were there, regarding its attacks."_ He threw his hands to the sides. _"Go ahead even even pull out new combinations for this timeline! I think I can predict them rather well! Go ahead! Hit this Megazord with everything you've got! It will all be for naught."_  
  
And then the hologram vanished with an _"Adieu."_  
  
"That bastard!" Youko shouted.  
  
And then the enemy Megazord charged them with a roar.  
  
"Let's go for Buster Herekles," J said, flicking switches. "Even if Enter is telling the truth, I have an idea from Jin's memories."  
  
"And what's that?" Mei asked.  
  
"Hopefully something Enter's never seen before," J answered.  
  


* * *

  
"Rodney!" John Sheppard ran into the labs where Rodney and Mallek were working with the Hologram of the Archer on the new Kiramager weapons. "How fast can you upscale Rule Breaker's piercing wavelengths to Megazord Weapons?"  
  
"What the hell kind of question is that?" Rodney asked, grabbing a laptop from where it sat. "Tell me what zords and where."  
  
Mallek and the Archer shared a look, and then Archer asked, "Is that the normal around here?"  
  
Mallek sighed. "It's been a while, but yeah."

* * *

The Titan Megazord crashed into the ground on the outskirts of Catherine, breaking apart into its smaller zord components.  
  
"Damn it..." Miko got to her feet. "So much for the air evening things out."  
  
The crimson-white-orange four eyed Evangelion roared triumphantly above them, and then began opening fire with its sniper rifle.  
  
And then with a whinny and neigh of a horse- a portal opened and Catastros emerged from it, ramming into the Crimson Evangelion and knocking it to the ground.  
  
"Catastros!?" Miko gazed at the Horse as it ran down to join her. "But I didn't call for you--!"  
  
A hologram appeared in the corner of her vision- showing John Sheppard and Rodney Mckay.;  
  
 _"Sorry, but we did,"_ John Sheppard. _"We thought you could use the help, and we need to test something."_  
  
 _"We've uploaded a new attack profile into Catastros' Megazord Weapon systems,"_ Rodney said. _"Use it on that Enemy Megazord."_  
  
"Got it," Miko nodded, and climbed onto Catastros' back. "Let's go, Catastros!"  
  


* * *

  
Jouki's chainsaw tail revved and tore through the chest armor on the Evangelion before Jouki- and Garuza laughed as the orange crystal core in said chest shattered on impact.  
  
That Evangelion fell down and exploded behind the roaring Smog Jouki.   
  
"Who's next!?" Garuza demanded.   
  
The horde of giant robots converged on him- seeing the Kiramei Stone mecha as the biggest threat by far.  
  


* * *

"RULE BREAKER IMPACT!!" The Centarus Phoneix Megazord stabbed its crimson glowing spear weapon into the energy shield the Evangelion had projeected- and pierced through it, clearing straight through into the Evangelion's chest and hidden core.  
  
The thing cracked, pulsed, and shattered- leaving the Evangelion to explode as Miko spun around to have her megazord's back to it.  
  
"Haha! Checkmate!" She laughed.  
  


* * *

  
"It worked!" Rodney laughed as they watched the explosion happen from a Zord Bay monitoring window.  
  
"Good, now we send it to everyone else!" John clapped his friend on the shoulder.   
  
They both got to work doing the rather tedious, but easily pulled off feat of uploading new Attack Programs to the various Megazords.  
  


* * *

  
Gigant Driller stood in the center of moderately sized cave beneath the city, gazing forwards at the hole from which they'd tunneled through. Duston rested in weapon form in the left shoulder's claw arm, and Mazellen was perched on the right shoulder's port. Meanwhile, Heliko hid on a small rock shelf above that entry point, blades folded back and waiting to spin to life.  
  
Harry sat in the back slot, gemstone formed, and waited, idling. "Come on... come on... take the bait..."  
  
And then it did. The lanky, crimson thing crawled through the hole, crouched on its knees and left hand- its right death gripping onto the blaster.  
  
It was big. Very Very Very big. Bigger than it seemed from in the air. Easily it was the size of Kiramagein standing on Gigant Driller's shoulders.   
  
How would they beat this thing without this strategy? It would be a tight squeeze if that thing stood to its full height.  
  
Either way- the thing froze as it saw Drijan sitting there- its four green eyes locking onto them.  
  
A projected screen emerged from its eyes, and a video of Enter Played.  
  
 _"Ca va, Kiramagers?"_ Enter gave a flourish and a bow, even as elsewhere he was fighting for his life- blasting away at the Ninja Rangers. _"I've pre-recorded this message for you if you've managed to get my Evangelions to the ground and keep it there for several minutes."_  
  
Harry was torn, on the one hand, this could be valuable information. On the other...  
  
The thing was practically a sitting target.  
  
 _"I'll give you credit where it's due, you lot managed to annoy me a lot and foil many of my plans. Still, it's of no use. Even if you do somehow manage to defeat this Evangelion, it, and the many more like it, are but dimensional beacons searching the universe for Iyo-chan,"_ Enter continued on.  
  
"Wait what?" Harry asked. "Seriously?"  
  
 _"As we speak, I've no doubt already launched an assault on the location Iyo is being held at, and she'll be taken prisoner to-"_  
  
"Enough Stalling! We have to do this NOW!" Harry decided.  
  
"Launching!" Heliko lifted off and Atsuya, Tomo, and Harley leaped out- their Mashin partners shooting ahead of them and growing to size.  
  
 _"MASHIN GATTAI!"_  
  
 _ **_"LAND MAGE"_** _landed on the back of the Crouched Evangelion- shattering Enter's projected message as the much smaller mecha tangled on the larger's back.  
  
"Mazellen!" Harry shouted- and the shoulder mounted concrete Mixer fired off a stream of concrete across the Evangelion's legs- solidifying and holding it in place long enough for Harry to march forwards.  
  
The Evangelion roared- struggling to shake Landmage off its back- and started to raise its rifle weapon upwards, trying to aim at Kiramagein.  
  
Driller's clamping left hand shot forwards- clamping onto the right wrist and hand holding that weapon.  
  
"Got you!" Harry shouted- squeezing down tight.   
  
"GO NOW, EQUIUS!" Mahha shouted.   
  
Heliko swooped in overhead and Equius leaped out of the Mashin, landing on the blaster itself, still firmly clenched in the Mecha's grip.  
  
"This is for hurting my partner!" Equius shouted, raising his Kiramei Sword- and engaging it without tapping the button. _ _ **"KIRAMEI CHARGE!"_ "DISARMING SLASH!"**_ he shouted, and sliced at the unarmored joints where the hand met the arm at the wrist- cutting clean through and relieving the Evangelion of its massive rifle.

 _ **_"CHECKMAGE"!_**_  
  
He leaped off of the weapon as it began to fall to the ground- landing on Heliko as she blew by again.  
  
The Evangelion Roared in pain as it registered the missing limb.  
  
Land Mage hopped off- and Atsuya struck his morpher- "Lifton, Rolland! Let's go!"  
  
"TRANSFROM!" The two Mashin shifted to their weapon forms-   
  
"READY: LAND MAGE ROLLAND LIFTON!"  
  
"STABBALOTO!" Lifton jabbed forwards- jamming into some recently damaged armor from Land Mage's grapple.  
  
The Evangelion roared- and struggled to free its severed arm from Driller's grip- but it wasn't able to get far, as Duston engaged, pulling it back towards them with just as much force as it tried to pull away from.  
  
"DRILLER PUNCH!" Harry roared- pulling his drill arm back---  
  
The Evangelion threw its hand forwards- trying to catch the attack with its remaining hand.  
  
"BANG!" Rolland smashed into the damaged Evan's back and it reared backwards in shock, leaving its chest wide open for the Drill Punch to land true.  
  
The Armor was torn to shreds- and the orange crystal core beneath was shredded clean through.  
  
More than that- Duston's suction now kicked into overdrive, pulling the Evangelion forwards and through- and then shut off- causing the Eva's soon to be corpse to fly past them- tumbling to pieces along the ground behind Driller, where they exploded as the two Crystal Mecha slumped forwards in relief, with Heliko hovering in alongside with a long sigh of her own.  
  
"I really hate bonus rounds..." she lamented.

* * *

ToQOh found that the WarGreymon mecha was just shrugging off all their attacks once they got into a place to actually fight it. It didn't help that Build-Dai-Oh was fighting off against a mecha that had taken on traits of the matching MetalGarurumon either, and both were being pushed together to fight the two together.  
  
It was a bad omen. A bad sign. Something was going to give any second...  
  
"Drivemax Ultrazord: PHOENIX BLAST!"  
  
And then a fire bird swooped in from above- crashing into the two Digimon themed megazords, and blasting them aside.  
  
[That's when a ten piece combination Ultrazord flew in overhead](https://axrosspaceandtime.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/0vrdriv1.png)\- its chest baring the Overdrive team emblem, smoking red.  
  
 _"Need some help?"_ Sally's helmeted face appeared on screen within ToQOh.  
  
"Like you wouldn't believe!" Casey said.  
  


* * *

  
Enter roared as he jumped over an explosive energy blast from the Ninja Ranger's team weapon, and then landed, glowed with crimson flames- "VOLCANICK ATTACK!" -and then rocketed forwards as a dark mockery of the Red Go-Buster's CB-01 Zord.  
  
The Ninjas saw it coming, but only Ridley managed to get away scot free, leaping away before the other two did. Red, Crimson, and Navy went flying away, crashing into the walls or the Samurai Ranger. The Robotic Yellow exploded on the spot- scattering parts everywhere.  
  
"No!" Ridley gasped, reaching out for the robot.   
  
"My My My," Enter chuckled as he picked up the sparking helmet of the Yellow Ranger Robot. "Color me surprised! If I'd known you were a robot I might have tried hacking you!"   
  
He laughed, and then dropped the helmet to the floor, and stepped on it- sending plastic shell and metal parts flying in all directions.   
  
"You bastard!" The Samurai shouted, readying his weapon, though he was staggered and unable to do much.   
  
A buzzer sounded then and Enter tapped the device on his wrist- bringing up a hologram. "Ah, and it seems we're not out of time for playing around. I've found who I'm looking for, even with some of my Megazords being destroyed. What a shame." He then gave a curt wave. "Au revoir, Ninja Rangers." He teleported away just as Ridley tried slashing through him with her sword.  
  
"What the-!? Coward!!" She shouted.  
  
"We need to get after him before-" The red ranger started when suddenly the whole base shook wildly.  
  
"Before something else happens?" The Samurai finished. "I think it's a bit late for that now."

* * *

Out in the deserts of Earth C, the Warrehouse Droid of Megazord SIze that they'd been in the entire time transformed out of its base form into its attack form.  
  
"Ahahaha!" It laughed- revving the treads on its legs and arms. The rockets on its shoulders glistened with intent to fire off- still attached to the body or not... and the comically bulbous shaped missile like object for its face worked a jaw up and down as it spoke. "Now it's time for me to make all the bases belong to me instead!!"  
  
The rockets on the shoulders fired- and it carried the Megazord upwards, upwards, and away.

* * *

  
Mashin Drijan had just returned to the surface when they heard the sound of something approaching at high speeds through the air.  
  
"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Harry lamented just as the rocket themed robot landed on the ground infront of Drijan.   
  
**_"HEEEEEELLOOO, EARTH C!"_** The monstrous MegaDroid shouted. **_"ARE YOU READDYYY TO RUMMMBLEEEEE!?"_**  
  
"Not Round 3!!" Heliko shouted from her grasp in Nepeta's arms, from inside Drijan's cockpit. "WHY?!"  
  
"Eh? What? Round 3?" Jetta asked, wobbling into the air. "What's going on?"  
  
"We'll tell you later," Equius said, grimacing- even as another teleport window opened up, dropping yet another Evangelion into the city next to the newly appeared monster. "For now, we need to suit up. _Again._ "  
  
"It's just going to be one of those days, isn't it?" Atsuya asked, readying his morpher.   
  


* * *

  
  
On the Midway Station, all was quiet...  
  
And Iyo Kodera was bored out of her mind, staring out into space.  
  
She muttered to herself, "Stupid Enter. I'd rather be singing, or acting, or doing anything besides waiting around."  
  
And then, as if to alleviate that boredom, there was an emergency alarm and people started shouting.  
  
Iyo had the common sense to realize she'd just taunted the mythical Murphy's Law, and grimaced. "Me and my big mouth."  
  
A guard entered her room- "Miss Kodera, we need to-" And then with the speed of a cheetah, something blurred on past, striking the guard in the back, knocking him flat onto is belly, out cold, with a large steaming slash across the back of his jacket.  
  
Iyo froze as she saw the suited man standing there.  
  
Ennard Terrance, the talent manager... Also known as Enter, Varglass general, and former servant to Gilgamesh.   
  
"Bon bon bonjour," He removed his helmet, and smiled coyly at Iyo, offering her his hand, "Come with me if you want to become a star, madam."  
  
"And if I don't?" Iyo asked.  
  
Enter's smile turned to a cold, dangerous smirk, "I'm afraid you don't have much choice in the matter."

* * *

"Midway just got attacked!" Tyzias reported, and Keiko and Argo looked up from their work in the office with surprise.  
  
"What? By who?" Keiko asked.  
  
"Enter," Tyzias answered. "He took Iyo Kodera right out from under us and left."  
  
"How'd he even find out we were holding her there!?" Argo asked.   
  
"No idea, but he did, and he's taken her somewhere we don't know where," Tyzias answered.  
  


* * *

  
Once More:  
  
"READY! KIRAMAGEIN!"  
  
 _ **_"KIRA-MAGE-IN!"_**_  
  
"READY! GIGANT DRILLER!"  
  
 ** __"GIGANT DRILLER!"__**  
  
Kiramagein and Driller threw themselves forwards- Kiramagein going after the orange colored Evangelion without any visible weapons but its hands- slashing with Jetta, and trying to pierce through the forceshields that it kept throwing up to block the attacks.  
  
"Owwowowow!" Jetta yelped. "All this rapid rebound's giving me a headache!"  
  
"Sorry!" Fiya apologized.  
  
"SHINIIIIIING!" Drijan kicked out at the Megadroid, and it just laughed, dodging the attack seamlessly.  
  
"You'll have to do better than that!!" The robot laughed.  
  


* * *

  
On a certain isolated world in the Pegasus Galaxy, there was a small ruin of a building that had been fortified on the inside to become something much more dangerous. Up to that building's upper most floor, it was there that Enter teleported in with Iyo Kodera in arm, before strapping her into a large chair.   
  
"What is all of this!?" She asked, jerking around, trying to break free.  
  
"It's quite simple, madam," Enter smiled. "I'm going to throw this lever, and all the data that makes up Iyo Kodera will be drained out into this card," he motioned towards a ring shaped array holding a small crystal card within it- said array was hosted in the chest of a feminine looking robot frame painted purple. "And when that process is complete, I will take all the data on this card," He motioned to a different crystal card in a similar array, this one not mounted into a robot at all, though it very well could have been at one point, "and place it into your body's now vacant mind. And my dear Escape will have herself a real body to call her own once more."   
  
Iyo went pale as Enter said these words. "You-- you're mad!"  
  
"Mad? Perhaps," Enter leaned in close. "But a father does what he must for his children, does he not?" He reached a hand out and stoked at her cheek, which made Iyo freeze up in terror. "If it's any consolation, I would have chosen the Blue Kiramager to be my own new host, but, alas, it seems I'll have to make due with what I have for now."  
  
He pulled away from the Fae girl, and went along to begin his preparations.  
  
Iyo whimpered, and then shrieked, crying out in terror.  
  
As that cry echoed out through the base, the camera pulled back, out of the building, out through the forests, past a frog temple hidden away in a cloaked forcefield that Enter had no idea was there, and then even further away from that towards the Stargate on that world- whose DHD had been pulled open and the insides scrambled to leave the Gate in a near constant state of attempted dial outs.   
  
Nobody would be gating in at all. Not any time soon.

_**TO BE CONTINUED.** _   
  


* * *

[ **_End of (Act 8) Act 2._ ** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6RSiiydK68)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What? You thought that WarGreymon nightmare Kagura was having was just a *throwaway joke*?  
> \---
> 
> So. Yeah, Enter's plan now boils down to riffing on a certain mad-scientist type plot you may be familiar with if you've played Myst 4: Revelation. 
> 
> The conclusion of this battle, and the Start of the next act will be posted Friday as per usual.  
> \---
> 
> The next episode's plot was partially inspired by a dream I had of a missile themed monster fighting Gigant Driller. Of course I couldn't make that dream's plot fit in one for one, but it gave me the inspiration for the Megadroid monster, at any rate. 
> 
> \---
> 
> This whole episode speaks of a step up in battle escalation. Enter's raising the bar faster than he hopes everyone can catch up to it. Of course, that just escalates the power growth of everyone to try and catch up, leading to things getting more intense from here on out. 
> 
> Enter's a bit of a jerk, incase you haven't noticed. :P 
> 
> \---
> 
> As we close off this act, I'll retrospect a bit. As I said many times, the overarching theme of this act was PANIC. LOTS of Panic. Panic as plans are foiled and have to be restructured suddenly. Panic as things escalate out of control. Panic, and sheer, utter, Chaos. 
> 
> Enter's been gathering Monstones, building up to this mega attack. He's used the USB droids to steal data, then used the large swarm of enemy megazords to try and get as much relevant, current, and uptodate data on the Ranger's Megazords as he could so that he could prevent their attacks in the future. This future that is now the present.
> 
> ...Enter's a jerk, have I said? 
> 
> All in all, everyone involved in this act has felt no small amount of dread and panic going forwards up until this day. And the day's not over yet for them. One more episode is crammed into this high octane, action packed day. 
> 
> Moving forwards, the theme we'll be seeing in the next act is split between two themes, technically. The one I'm willing to talk about now is Music.
> 
> The Music is the theme that the whole Act is centered around- a certain song. Burn You Up, Burn You Down.  
> But it's not just THAT specific song. Oh no, I've got quite a few [S] Sequences planned ahead, too. So yeah. MUSIC. That's the one of the two themes of the act. What's the other? It's a Secret :::;)
> 
> Hold on tight folks, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
> 
> See you Friday, with (ACT 8) ACT 3: Carry Our Intentions Through The Wind.


End file.
